Entering a parcel traverse using bearings and distances

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

New parcels are always created in plans. If you are not working with plans, use the <map> plan, which is the system default plan. The New parcel command can be accessed in the following ways:

• Right-clicking a plan in the Plan Directory dialog box.
• Right-clicking a plan node in the Parcel Explorer window. If you are working in automatic mode, you can display plan nodes in the Parcel Explorer window by selecting parcels in the map.
• Click the Create New Parcel In A New Plan tool on the Parcel Editor toolbar.

New parcels are created using the Parcel Details window. Boundaries are traversed in under the Lines tab, and parcel attributes such as area are entered in under the Properties tab.

Typed boundary dimensions, such as bearing and distance, are populated in the traverse grid using the ENTER and LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys. For more information on entering traverse dimensions in the lines grid, click the Help button under the Lines tab on the Parcel Details window.

The following parcel attributes are available for data entry under the Properties tab in the Parcel Details window:

Attribute	Description
Name	The parcel name. Also known as PIN (parcel identification number) and APN (assessor parcel number).
Type	Used for adding and migrating your own parcel subtypes.
Unclosed	Specifies whether the parcel is a closed or unclosed polygon. Set to True if the parcel is unclosed.
Stated Area	The parcel polygon area. It should match the area reported on the survey record. The parcel area is automatically calculated if the parcel misclosure is small. You can overwrite the Stated Area value.
Legal Start Date	The date on the record of survey document (plan) of the parcel. This attribute is optional and should be populated if you want to maintain legal parcel history in your fabric.
Legal End Date	The date on the record of survey document (plan) of the parcel that retired this parcel. This attribute is optional and should be populated if you want to maintain legal parcel history in your fabric.
Accuracy	The accuracy level of the parcel. If the accuracy level is set for the plan, the new parcel automatically inherits its accuracy level from the plan.
Compiled	Set this value to True if the parcel is compiled from old survey records or inverted dimensions.
Historical	True if the parcel is historic.
Rotation	System managed. Parcel rotation is automatically populated.
Scale	System managed. Parcel scale is automatically populated.
Misclose Ratio	System managed. The misclose ratio is automatically calculated from the parcel traverse.
Misclose Distance	System managed. The misclose distance is automatically calculated from the parcel traverse.
Misclose Bearing	System managed. The misclose distance is automatically calculated from the parcel traverse.

Steps:

To create a new parcel, follow these steps:
1. In an edit session in ArcMap, open the Plan Directory dialog box, right-click a plan, then click Create new parcel.
To open the Plan Directory dialog box, click the Parcel Editor menu on the Parcel Editor toolbar and click Plan Directory.
If you are working in manual mode with fabric jobs, open a fabric job, right-click a plan node in the Parcel Explorer window, then click New Parcel.
2. In the Parcel Details window, click the Template button to specify a template for the new parcel if you have defined feature templates for fabric parcels.
3. Under the Properties tab, populate the necessary attribute fields for your new parcel.
4. Click the Lines tab.
5. Click in the Bearing field to type the first leg of your traverse. Press ENTER to move to the Distance field.
6. Type in your distance value and press ENTER to create the first traverse leg.

If you are entering a curve, type your bearing and press ENTER. Use the RIGHT ARROW key to move to the Radius field. After entering your radius, press ENTER and type an appropriate value in the Chord/Arc Length/Central Angle field. Press ENTER to create the curve.

7. To close the final leg of your traverse to its starting point, type an asterisk (*) next to your distance value (or chord/arc length/central angle for curves). You can also simply enter a 1 in the From field of the final leg of your traverse to close it.

Once the parcel traverse is closed back to its starting point, misclosure and accuracy information are displayed at the bottom of the Parcel Details dialog box. The Misclose Ratio, Misclose Distance, and Misclose Bearing attributes under the Properties tab are updated with the calculated values.

8. Click the Keep changes to parcel data command on the Parcel Details window to save the parcel or click the Keep changes to parcel data and Join command to save and directly begin joining the parcel to the fabric.

Tip:

When working with the traverse grid, pressing ENTER and using the LEFT and RIGHT ARROW keys will automatically maintain and populate the from- and to-points. If the from- and to-points are not automatically populated, you can enter the correct from- or to-point at any time.

Tip:

When pressing ENTER to move to the next row in the traverse grid, the Bearing field is populated with the previous row's bearing by default. For curve boundaries, the Bearing field in the next row is populated with the exit tangent of the curve. If your curve direction is set to Radial or Chord, the exit Tangent value will automatically be converted to the radial or chord value.

Tip:

When entering curves, you can type an asterisk in the Bearing field to obtain the exit tangent of the previous line. If your curve direction is set to Radial or Chord, the exit Tangent value will automatically be converted to the radial or chord value.

Tip:

Press CTRL+ENTER to move in the traverse grid to the end of the row. This saves having to press ENTER multiple times to move to the next row. For example, after you have specified your line category, you can press CTRL+ENTER, then ENTER to move to the next row.

Tip:

You can obtain the bearing, distance, and curve parameters of an existing parcel line by pressing CTRL+SHIFT and clicking on the parcel line. If the Bearing field is active, pressing CTRL+SHIFT and clicking on a curve will return the chord bearing of the curve.