Scale must be a big part of the discussion on the subject of adequately portraying parcels on a map. Parcels are really only visible as discrete entities at large scales since parcels can be as small as, say thirty meters by thirty meters, although they can be much larger. Also, your study area will most likely include a mix of very small and somewhat larger parcels (representing farm land or parks or golf courses, for example). So what do you do if you want to show parcels on the map but have a broad study area that will effectively obscure the individual parcel boundaries? The first thing to do is figure out what it is you are trying to convey to the map viewer by means of parcel boundaries. If the intent of the parcel data is to merely show a background map to provide context for other data, then a few options are available. The first is to consider only showing the landmark‑type features from a parcel map, such as the roads, parks, and water areas. The second is to show all of the parcels but only in outline form (i.e., no fill color) and with a very light gray and very thin line symbology. This second method will not work with very broad study areas combined with small output sizes.