This launches the Survey Entry dialog, which is the first step in digitizing a surveyed parcel. The dialog allows you to enter in a survey from the information printed on a survey sheet or deed, which you will then save as a text file and later draw as a line feature using the Parcel Editor dialog. Entering parcels into your spatial database using surveys is a highly precise way to perform data entry. The shape of each parcel will be more precise this way than using any other method (unless you already have the parcels in some kind of CAD format). However, there are sources of inaccuracy from using this method, which include the placement (location) of the parcels and their rotation, and length and angle inaccuracies related to the projection you are using. You will need to move the parcels into position after drawing them using background data (vector data such as roads, streams, existing parcels, or raster/image data such as USGS Topographic Quads or orthophotos) as a guide, unless you are lucky enough to have precise x,y or lat/long coordinates for some of the parcel boundary corners, which few surveyors provide.
Launch Parcel Editor button
This launches the Parcel Editor dialog, which gives you tools for editing line shapefiles and preparing your line data to be built into polygons. If you have property surveys you want to enter into your spatial database, you can enter the surveys into the Survey Entry dialog and then draw it into your line theme using the Parcel Editor. The Parcel Editor partially mimics ARC/INFO's ArcEdit module to give you a more accurate editing environment, including visual clues on the display that will help you edit and several editing tools not available in regular ArcView. You should use the Parcel Editor if you want to enter detailed, accurate parcel data as lines and build it into polygons. If your main data source is surveys and you have acceptable background layers for placing the data, or if you can draw the parcel you want onto a background layer, this is an excellent way to digitize your parcels.
