Importing schema in CAD

pearly · ‎12-12-2023

Hello all!

We have a goal for subcontractors to create Stormwater asbuilt drawings in CAD using our existing Geodatabase’s Schema. How can I correctly import the existing geodatabase’s schema (XML) to a .DWT? we have symbology for our conveyances and catch basins in arc pro and we would want them to use our feature class symbology in a disconnected workflow.

Thank you!

Randy_Garcia · ‎12-13-2023

Hi!

There are a couple of things you can do here. We often see our users needing to work with disconnected subcontractors. The two paths I recommend are as follows.

Use web feature layers - this will be the easiest method for you. If you have access to AutoCAD you can create CAD drawings with ArcGIS for AutoCAD and import ArcGIS Web Feature Layers. This will create the feature layers and their schema in AutoCAD. You can save this drawing and hand it to your subcontractors. Since ArcGIS for AutoCAD saves everything locally in the drawing there is no need for the subcontractors to have access to your layers. They can make edits, add new stuff etc to the CAD drawing / feature layers (both geometry and attributes). They then send it back to you where you can synchronize those changes from within your network. That sync will push all the changes your subcontractors made back into the ArcGIS feature layers under your supervision. Note: your subcontractors will need to download ArcGIS for AutoCAD for this to work.

OR

Use export to CAD in ArcGIS Pro - The following method is closer to what you are describing. You will run the export to CAD geoprocessing tool using your feature classes as input. This will create an AutoCAD file that your subcontractors will use that contains the features you want to export (or none at all) but most importantly will have AutoCAD layers that match your GIS schema and will also contain "Document Feature layers" similar to feature classes that will organize the CAD data into GIS like containers. They make edits add stuff etc and give this drawing back to you. When you read back this CAD file in ArcGIS pro you will see the same feature classes you exported as feature classes in the CAD file with data from your subcontractors. You can then import that data in the CAD feature classes back to your geodatabase.

With both of these, there is an easy way to have them use your symbols. CAD and GIS symbols are just different and there is no easy way to export them out of ArcGIS to be used in AutoCAD. Its also a bit by design as we know most CAD users have blocks they already want to use for symbols. If not you can create AutoCAD blocks that match your GIS symbols to add into the template file but this will be an all manual process.

I hope this helps!

View solution in original post

Randy_Garcia · ‎12-13-2023

Hi!

There are a couple of things you can do here. We often see our users needing to work with disconnected subcontractors. The two paths I recommend are as follows.

Use web feature layers - this will be the easiest method for you. If you have access to AutoCAD you can create CAD drawings with ArcGIS for AutoCAD and import ArcGIS Web Feature Layers. This will create the feature layers and their schema in AutoCAD. You can save this drawing and hand it to your subcontractors. Since ArcGIS for AutoCAD saves everything locally in the drawing there is no need for the subcontractors to have access to your layers. They can make edits, add new stuff etc to the CAD drawing / feature layers (both geometry and attributes). They then send it back to you where you can synchronize those changes from within your network. That sync will push all the changes your subcontractors made back into the ArcGIS feature layers under your supervision. Note: your subcontractors will need to download ArcGIS for AutoCAD for this to work.

OR

Use export to CAD in ArcGIS Pro - The following method is closer to what you are describing. You will run the export to CAD geoprocessing tool using your feature classes as input. This will create an AutoCAD file that your subcontractors will use that contains the features you want to export (or none at all) but most importantly will have AutoCAD layers that match your GIS schema and will also contain "Document Feature layers" similar to feature classes that will organize the CAD data into GIS like containers. They make edits add stuff etc and give this drawing back to you. When you read back this CAD file in ArcGIS pro you will see the same feature classes you exported as feature classes in the CAD file with data from your subcontractors. You can then import that data in the CAD feature classes back to your geodatabase.

With both of these, there is an easy way to have them use your symbols. CAD and GIS symbols are just different and there is no easy way to export them out of ArcGIS to be used in AutoCAD. Its also a bit by design as we know most CAD users have blocks they already want to use for symbols. If not you can create AutoCAD blocks that match your GIS symbols to add into the template file but this will be an all manual process.

I hope this helps!

pearly · ‎01-23-2024

Thank you Randy! I realized I didn't reply to your thorough response. We are looking into both solutions you provided I know we will have further questions.