Load overlapping parcels

Available with Standard or Advanced license.

When loading parcel data to the parcel fabric, it is recommended that parcels be separated by type in the staging environment and loaded in separate topologies for each type. Separating parcels by type avoids overlapping parcels of different types being loaded in a single topology.

If you have a case where you need to load overlapping parcels in a single topology, ensure that the [Line feature class] Must Not Intersect Or Touch Interior topology rule is not violated. For example, the overlapping polygons in the following image will load successfully:

These overlapping parcels will migrate successfully.

If you have overlapping polygons with lines that intersect, the [Line feature class] Must Not Intersect Or Touch Interior topology rule is violated. For example, the overlapping polygons in the following image have intersecting lines:

These overlapping polygons have intersecting lines.

To prevent the [Line feature class] Must Not Intersect Or Touch Interior topology rule from being violated, you need to planarize overlapping parcel lines prior to migration.

Follow these steps to load overlapping parcels in a single topology to the parcel fabric:

This workflow assumes you have already staged and cleaned your parcel feature class geometries.
1. Locate and extract all the overlapping polygons:
   1. Create and validate a temporary topology that contains the Must Not Overlap rule on the feature class .
   2. In the Error Inspector window, search for all the errors resulting from the Must Not Overlap rule. Select all the errors, right-click, and click Select Features.

      All overlapping polygons in the dataset are selected.

   3. Extract the selected polygons to a new feature class.

      Use the Feature Class to Feature Class geoprocessing tool located under System Toolboxes > Conversion Tools > To Geodatabase to save the selected polygons to a new feature class in a new feature dataset.

   4. Use the Select By Location tool to select the corresponding lines of the selected parcels.
   5. Use the Feature Class to Feature Class geoprocessing tool to save the selected lines to the same feature dataset you used for the selected polygons.
   6. Delete the selected, overlapping polygons and lines from the original parcel dataset.
   7. Delete the topology.
2. Load the feature class of the overlapping lines into ArcMap.
3. In an edit session, select all the lines and click the Planarize Lines command on the Advanced Editing toolbar.

   Tip:

   Planarizing lines is performance intensive. If there is a large number of lines to planarize, consider splitting the dataset into more manageable blocks.

4. Keep the default Cluster Tolerance and click OK on the Planarize Lines dialog box.

   The selected lines are split at their points of intersection and the [Line feature class] Must Not Intersect Or Touch Interior topology rule will not be violated.

5. Create a separate topology for the overlapping polygons and lines and validate it against the required set of topology rules.
6. Load the topology to a parcel fabric.
7. Once the loading process is complete, use the Merge Parcel Courses tool to merge collinear parcel line segments into a single line. The tool merges those line segments that have been split by the planarize process.