DWG not translated to GIS dataset

JohnCunningham · ‎12-13-2012

I am using a trial copy of ArcGIS 10.1 desktop. I am learning to georeference CAD drawings. I inserted drawings created in AutoCAD2000 with no problem. However, I had opened those drawings with a trial version of AutoCAD 2013. That trial expired. Now I can no longer insert the drawings. In the catalog, the .dwg shows with no sub-files for feature classes. How to translate the DWGs to GIS-readable again?

JWC

BrettHill · ‎12-14-2012

Did you save the drawings in AutoCAD 2013? ArcMap 10.1 does not yet support the 2013 dwg format. AutoCAD will typically make a .bak file when you save, if you only saved once in 2013 the .bak may still be in 2000 dwg format. If you no longer have access to the AutoCAD 2000 files then another option would be to download Autodesk TrueView 2013. TrueView is free and it allows saving drawings back to an earlier versions.

JohnCunningham · ‎12-15-2012

Thanks, Brett.
TrueView does indeed make the files readable in ACAD2000 again. It seems when I used ACAD2013 to view a folder, all DWGs in that folder became tagged as created in 2013, even though most of them had not been opened in ACAD 2013. However, once converted and saved in the Map home directory in ACAD2000 format as DWGs or DXFs, they are still not readable as GIS datasets in the Catalog; they still appear as single files. When I attempt to add the file, ArcMap says "Could not open the specified file."

I am running ACAD2000 in Windows XPMode (32 bit), under my Windows 7 (64 bit). Perhaps I should try to install XP in a separate partition and have a dual-boot machine. I hope I don't have to learn how to do that. I have 8G of memory, so it might work if that's what I have to do.

JohnCunningham · ‎12-16-2012

Solved! by refering to this thread. Who knew: access DWG by removing DWG from the list of file types on the File Types tab of the Catalog Options box. Now, it seems DWG is not "in addition to the standard data types" per the instructions on the File types tab. Seems to me I had to add it previously. A lesson learned. Thanks.