Yakima County moved to the Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro to support its robust parcel management program and expand capabilities.
Contributed By Yakima County, Washington with Pro-West & Associates
Yakima County, in south-central Washington, received its name from the river that runs through it. The name Yakima comes from the Yakama tribe, who originally inhabited this area. The area became established after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in the 1880s.
Today, the Yakima valley is one of the nation's top producers in apples, wine grapes, and hops. Its resources have made this area a hub for wine and craft beer. The area is also known for its outdoor recreation, being home to part of the Snoqualmie National Forest and Mount Adams as well as being adjacent to Mount Rainier National Park.
For many years, Yakima County had been maintaining parcels meticulously in ArcInfo coverage format via a custom program built in-house. While the process was well-established and the robust editing workflow ensured high quality, up-to-date data, the County knew that continuing to use unsupported technology presented risks.
The team had long understood the need to move to Esri’s Parcel Fabric, eager to take advantage of its benefits:
- Comprehensive support
- Industry standard skill set amongst land records professionals
- Assurance of continuity – no need to rely on institutional knowledge of an ageing system
- Ability for applications to consume parcel data
- Ability for all users to view updates
- Improved management of features such as water bodies, road and railroads
- Better system performance
- More efficient data update processes
Led by Michael Martian, Yakima County’s GIS Director, the team secured the full buy-in of Assessor, Jacob Tate – an important factor in project success – and began the process of modernization. After a short time exploring the possibility of performing the migration in-house, the County realized that a project of such magnitude would require additional support beyond its small team. After engaging Pro-West & Associates, the team got to work to move Yakima County forward.
Once the Parcel Fabric had been implemented and the County’s parcels migrated, the team took Esri training to learn the basics of working with parcel data in ArcGIS Pro. Pro-West then built on that training with a custom course tailored to the County’s own data, workflows, typical scenarios and unique needs.
“Coming from what we were used to, learning to edit parcels in ArcGIS Pro presented a learning curve. The Parcel Fabric is a comprehensive product with many more capabilities, but with the right training we were equipped to take it on. Reaching the point we’re at now is very rewarding.”
-Michael Martian, GIS Director, Yakima County
Yakima County's new public-facing parcel map. Users can select a tab to see related data: Planning, Utilities, County Roads, or Water Resources
The Value of Modernizing
Since the County migrated to Esri’s Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro for parcel management, it has benefited from numerous improvements:
- Efficient support for numerous departments
- Ability to make and view updates immediately
- Better performance, with the introduction of encumbrances as a separate feature class
- Taking advantage of Esri application environment to replace legacy apps
- Assurance of continuity and support
- Automated parcel data updates via scripts that run daily
Michael notes the county is seeing great value as a result of modernizing the way it manages parcel information. All users can see the same updates at the same time, and they can make immediate updates when working to a tight deadline with title companies and lending institutions. The county plans to build on the migration by replacing outdated apps with more user-friendly solutions.
Looking Ahead
Yakima County plans to achieve even greater value by leveraging additional tools in the Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro:
- Serving public and internal users with an Experience Builder-based parcel map, replacing a legacy application
- 3D capability for condominiums
- Moving legacy annotation into the Fabric – taking advantage of dynamic labeling
- Automating Assessor Map production
Considering a Similar Project?
Counties thinking about modernizing their parcel management system may benefit from Yakima County’s experience. Michael says when you deploy current, out-of-the-box software opens the door to an industry-wide user community, many resources and a huge support system. Hiring is easier, since knowledge of products is standard amongst parcel management professionals. Maintenance is much more efficient compared to custom products, and there are so many new capabilities that offer value. Making the move is well worth it.
You can view an ArcGIS Storymap detailing the county’s parcel migration here: Modernizing Parcel Management at Yakima County
Thanks to Pro-West & Associates for this article and for their continued support and sponsorship of WAGISA.
