A Clean Slate for Parcel Accuracy at Sevier County

Sevier County’s GIS team dealt with significant challenges in relation to parcel data for a long time. Having been drawn based on aerial imagery, accuracy issues with the data were commonplace, causing widespread and time-consuming complications.

The team knew change was needed to bring parcels into alignment with legal descriptions as opposed to imagery. After seeing a demonstration of ArcGIS Parcel Fabric, the county realized it was an ideal parcel management solution. In addition to offering an efficient editing and maintenance environment, Parcel Fabric could support the county’s goal of sharing parcel data across departments to ensure that information was consistent and resolve confusion caused by datasets that didn’t match.

The team, including GIS technician Bailey Banks and recorder Jason Monroe, explored a number of options that leveraged the significant proportion of parcels already drawn in AutoCAD. Ultimately team members decided that redrawing from scratch was the right option.

However, Sevier County’s team of three could not accomplish this project alone and, backed by CARES Act funding, collaborated with Pro-West & Associates to implement Parcel Fabric and redraw the county's parcels. 

To prepare, the county's deployment of Esri’s ArcGIS Enterprise had to be configured appropriately, ensuring that Parcel Fabric would be properly and securely integrated. Prior to countywide parcel data development, the county worked on a pilot area to create a data development process to identify and test for any potential problems.

During this process, the team identified and worked through a number of issues with the county's data and legal descriptions. Team members then established a data development process and guidelines that would address the county's challenges and goals. 

Once the process for development had been refined, the project extended beyond the pilot area to the entire county. A discrepancy tracker solution was configured to allow questions and comments to be tracked, like the reason for drawing a parcel in a certain way, or unique scenarios that required feedback from the county. Using this solution, the team was able to collaborate, communicate, and explain discrepancies in an organized and transparent way throughout the project.

Status meetings were held weekly, then biweekly during the main production phase, plus there was continual communication via calls and emails to mitigate any potential issues and keep the project on track. Data was developed not just for the parcel layer but also for sales tracking, planning, zoning, encroachment permits, and neighborhood classification for use by the assessor’s office.

Once the layer was complete and ready for delivery, the county downloaded it correctly to ArcGIS Enterprise and prepared it for versioning in order for multiple editors to efficiently work in the database at the same time. The project extended beyond data development to include the implementation of a Python script that runs daily, automating the process of publishing up-to-date data from Parcel Fabric.

To secure long-term success, a plan for maintaining accurate data was critical. County staff were trained on-site, building on foundational skills provided by Esri’s Parcel Fabric editing class. Customized training meant that staff could work with the county's own data and process under expert supervision. 

The greatest value to the county is the efficiency brought to the entire organization by managing parcels in Parcel Fabric:

“We had consistently been five to six weeks behind in making updates to parcel data for a long time. Working in Parcel Fabric has streamlined the process to the point that we will never be behind again. Our colleagues in Planning and Zoning, Emergency Management, and other departments can count on us to provide accurate data that enables them to work efficiently and meet important deadlines.”—Bailey Banks, GIS Technician

The duplication of effort that previously took place has also been eliminated; edits need only to be made once in Parcel Fabric instead of in three different locations, reducing time spent on maintenance.

With confidence in the accuracy of the data and its value to staff, residents, and local professionals, Sevier County’s GIS team has planned to further extend the capabilities of ArcGIS Enterprise.

The team has goals to implement Esri Story Maps Series to efficiently generate PDF maps on a weekly basis. This will enable the county to eliminate outdated hand-drawn paper maps and streamline the mapping process.

The team is also planning to configure a public-facing parcel viewer app through which residents can easily find answers to their questions about property ownership in Sevier County. The app will be available via the county's hub site, created using ArcGIS Hub.