Ashe County, North Carolina, Transforms Land Records Management with ArcGIS Pro Migration

Land records management is a mandatory obligation for county governments across the United States. Data records must be carefully maintained, as they serve as the foundation for determining property taxes. Owners are taxed based on the assessed value of their home or land.

Located in the northwestern region of North Carolina, Ashe County has a population of almost 30,000 people and spans 429 square miles. This county oversees more than 38,000 parcels. County employees have used Esri geographic information system (GIS) technology for over 20 years. Until recently, they used Esri’s ArcMap Parcel Fabric to manage parcel information.

Handling a complicated system that always changes with technology is not easy. Especially when there is only one technical editor in the land records department. County employees asked Avineon, an Esri partner, to help migrate their ArcMap Parcel Fabric to ArcGIS Parcel Fabric. Avineon’s staff had successfully implemented the ArcGIS Desktop Parcel Fabric for the county several years prior. 

The primary goal of the project was to seamlessly transition legacy data from ArcMap to ArcGIS Parcel Fabric. Additionally, it was crucial to update the IT hardware infrastructure. This ensured that all the existing software and hardware that the county uses are compatible with the target version of ArcGIS Pro.

As part of the upgrade, the legacy data needed to undergo adjustments and improvements to ensure smooth integration with the upgraded Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro. Providing detailed training to county staff was also crucial for ensuring the effective use of the new system.

Avineon staff started by preparing the county’s legacy data for Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro to ensure a smooth and efficient integration. This involved resolving topology errors in the legacy data and determining the best attribute to populate the new mandatory RECORD attribute in ArcGIS Parcel Fabric.

To validate the enhancements, the Avineon team conducted a test conversion on a file geodatabase. After a successful test, they created a new enterprise geodatabase on SQL Server to use as the initial testing environment. Next, attribute rules were devised to streamline the automated generation of new attributes necessary to support ArcGIS Pro. With the initial testing environment completed and operating smoothly, the next step was to proceed with comprehensive testing.

Following successful testing, Avineon staff conducted a series of online training sessions for Ashe County staff. These sessions focused on teaching the new workflow specific to ArcGIS Pro and addressing various editing scenarios.

The Avineon team also assisted the Ashe County GIS technician. They offered guidance on new tools, helped complete the initial batch of edits, and created challenging practice scenarios. As editing within the new service-based model was unfamiliar to Ashe County staff, Avineon employees ensured thorough training and offered continuous support. This facilitated a seamless transition for the test geodatabase to go live.

Avineon expertly managed the migration process from ArcGIS Desktop Parcel Fabric to ArcGIS Pro. They created testing environments to ensure everything functioned efficiently throughout the process. Avineon employees successfully converted the county’s legacy data for use in ArcGIS Pro, verifying it was free of any topology errors. Additionally, the county seamlessly integrated the newly required RECORD attribute into its new workflow. The newly updated Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro allows county staff to better maintain accurate land records and parcel data, which contribute to funding the county government.

Avineon provided the county technician with online training and ongoing support to get oriented with the new tools. Now the Ashe County GIS technician maintaining the GIS Parcel layer can do their job as quickly, accurately, and efficiently as possible. Ashe County staff are now proficient in utilizing the new tools and have successfully updated multiple downstream processes to incorporate data from the new ArcGIS Parcel Fabric. This has eliminated any lasting dependencies on ArcMap.

With the updated parcel data, Ashe County can now proceed confidently, ensuring seamless land records management operations.