1/26/2017 AnoverviewofCOGOHelp|ArcGISforDesktop

An overview of COGO
ArcMap 10.3
|
Other versions

10.5

10.4

10.3

Available with Standard or Advanced license.

When surveyors or civil engineers need to record the location of humanmade features, such as land parcels, road
centerlines, utility easements containing transmission lines, and oil and gas leases, they typically provide the results on
a survey plan that describes the location of features relative to each other. Below is an example survey plan that
diagrammatically shows a road centerline and the edge of the land properties adjoining the road. The road centerline
and parcel boundaries comprise a number of straight and curved lines.

Each line has measurements that describe it. A straight line has a direction and distance, while a curved line has a
radius, angle, arc length, direction, and so on. These measurements are coordinate geometry descriptions. You can use
these COGO descriptions to accurately recreate the features the surveyor captured. The survey plan also includes
references to existing locations that help you to tie these new features into your GIS database. The reference could be
the coordinates for a point or a measurement to a wellknown location such as a control point, a road intersection, or
an existing parcel corner.

Building blocks for COGO

These are the basic building blocks for COGO:

PointsSurvey plans can describe point features such as control points, section corners, and monuments. You
can use a simple point feature class to represent these features.
LinesYou use a simple line feature class to represent these features. You can optionally add COGO fields to
your line feature class, and measurements you enter are recorded on the features. There are three types of lines
found on survey plans:
Straight linesStraight lines are the predominant type of lines on a survey plan, they are used to
represent all types of features.
Curved linesA typical use for curved lines is to smoothly change direction on a road centerline. Parcel
boundaries are usually parallel to the road centerline, so boundaries adjacent to a curved centerline are
also curved. Curves are used in a number of other situations: in culdesac parcels to provide a large
turning circle for vehicles and on parcels at an intersection to provide greater visibility.
SpiralsSpirals are not as common as the other types of lines. Spirals typically provide a transition to and
from circular curves. Spirals are used in roadway and railroad design, where a highspeed vehicle or train
must be eased into or out of a circular path from or to a straight tangent. Creating and modifying spirals

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/managedata/creatingnewfeatures/anoverviewofcogo.htm 1/3
1/26/2017 AnoverviewofCOGOHelp|ArcGISforDesktop

is only supported through programming. For more information, see the geometry section of the ArcGIS
software documentation kit help.
PolygonsPolygon features are used to represent the parcel areas formed by your COGO line features. You
usually don't directly create polygons with the ArcMap COGO functionality; more typically you derive polygons
from your lines. For example, you can use the Construct Polygons command on the Advanced Editing toolbar to
create polygons from selected lines.
TraversesMuch of the data that is entered using COGO descriptions is entered from traverses. A traverse is
simply an ordered collection of COGO descriptions that are used to create either a line or a polygon. Each
individual line is referred to as a course.

Creating features from COGO descriptions

The commands and dialog boxes in the ArcMap editing environment for creating features from COGO descriptions are
integrated into the editing experience. The common commands and dialog boxes you will use include these:

Traverse windowCreate a set of features from a traverse description.

2Point Line windowQuickly create a feature from a single COGO description.
Offset Line windowCreate a set of features from a strip description, a type of survey plan used for realigning
road centerlines.
Culdesac commandCreate a culdesac from a selected road centerline.

These are just some of the commands and dialog boxes available for creating features in ArcGIS. Refer to Common
COGO workflows to understand how you can use these and other commands to build and maintain your land parcels.

Correcting for differences between the survey plan and GIS data
When you are using the COGO descriptions from a survey plan, you are using measurements the surveyor took on the
ground and possibly adjusted to some coordinate system. However, a GIS stores coordinates relative to a projection's
coordinate grid. You can use ground to grid correction to adjust the geometry of the features you create.

Reporting COGO descriptions

Before you begin adding features from COGO descriptions, you might need to investigate and understand how the
new features will fit compared to the existing features. You can use the COGO Report dialog box to measure directions
and distances between points you click on the map as well as query the COGO descriptions for line features in your
database. You can also use the COGO Area command to calculate the legal area of selected line features, useful when
deciding which approach to use in modifying features.

Storing COGO attributes on line features

In ArcMap, you can store the COGO values that you enter when creating features as an attribute of the line feature.
One reason to do this is to keep a record of the original COGO description of the line features. This is useful if you need
to research the original value when you are modifying the line feature in the future.

Not every command and tool in ArcMap updates the COGO attributes of a line feature. The Traverse window, 2Point
Line window, Culdesac command, and Proportion command are examples of those that do update. For a complete
list, see About COGO descriptions. To get this behavior, you need a line feature class with the appropriate COGO
attributes. You can use the Create COGO Fields command in ArcCatalog to do this.

How is the COGO toolbar different from other Esri COGO capabilities?
The COGO functionality provided when editing in ArcMap with the COGO toolbar allows you to create and maintain
your land parcels and other surveyed features in a geodatabase. There is other Esri functionality that provides similar
capabilities, such as parcel editing and the COGO extension to ArcInfo Workstation.

Parcel editing parcel fabric and Parcel Editor toolbar

Parcel editing allows you to capture and maintain survey information collected from field notes, data collectors, and
record information submitted by surveyors to public authorities. You can use this survey information to incrementally
http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/managedata/creatingnewfeatures/anoverviewofcogo.htm 2/3
1/26/2017 AnoverviewofCOGOHelp|ArcGISforDesktop

improve the accuracy of GIS feature geometry in the geodatabase.

Parcel editing provides a parcel fabric dataset, job tracking, and workflow functionality for maintaining a land records
database.

How does this differ from COGO?

Maintaining your features over timeWhen you create line and polygon features with COGO functionality in
ArcGIS, you cannot go back and change the measurements and readjust the features. For example, if you use
the Traverse window to create a parcel boundary and realize later you made an error, you must delete the parcel
boundaries and create them again. Using parcel fabrics, the parcel record information is stored in the parcel
fabric so you can reapply the measurements and adjust the fabric.
Adjustment of the parcelsWith COGO, as new parcels are added, you need to decide how those new parcels
integrate into the existing parcel layers. You might need to delete some lines or modify or recreate others.
Parcel editing uses a least squares adjustment that defines a best fit for your new parcels. As you add new
parcels, they are seamlessly integrated into the parcel fabric. Old record information is not deleted; it is kept as a
historical record and can continue to contribute to the coordinate accuracy of the fabric.
Tracking history of parcelsThe geodatabase allows you to archive data so you can model your parcel data over
time. This works for the parcels created with COGO. Parcel editing provides additional functionality to
geodatabase archiving where you can store incremental changes to the parcels in a parcel fabric.

COGO extension for ArcInfo Workstation

The COGO extension for ArcInfo Workstation provided functionality for capturing and maintaining land records data in
a coverage. How does this differ from COGO in ArcGIS?

No COGO point feature classCOGO in ArcGIS does not have an explicit COGO point feature class.
Support for spiral curvesCreating and modifying spirals is only supported through programming. For more
information, see the geometry section of the ArcGIS software documentation kit help.
StationingThis is not supported in ArcGIS.

Related Topics
Common COGO workflows
About COGO descriptions

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/managedata/creatingnewfeatures/anoverviewofcogo.htm 3/3