"Liveview" of Autocad drawing

Question

Hey All,

I am working on cleaning up polygon boundaries in multiple AutoCAD drawings. Some of these are "true" closed polygons but they overlap another polygon creating multiple small polygons that should not exist. Others are lines that form a polygon since the grips are snapped. Others are lines that intersect thus creating what is seen by the person drawing them as a polygon but is in fact not a "true" closed polygon. And the final option is a polygon that had some unintentional modification made leaving it "open". I need to convert all of them to true closed polygons in order to use them for different projects.

Currently I have to export the layer I want to work as a KML, import the KML to Arc, convert the KML to a feature, locate the extra polygons or figure out if a polygon is missing and address it in AutoCAD then repeat the process to confirm the polygons in each drawing have been corrected.

Is there any way to bring the AutoCAD drawing in such a way that it is a "Live View" so to speak? Essentially, as I make a correction it shows up in Arc either immediately or by clicking "refresh". If not is there an easier way or process to identify the problem areas and validate the corrections? Just looking to make life a little easier if possible.

TIA.

RTPL_AU · Answer

@FlightDeck

A couple of assumptions:
Your cad data is geolocated i.e. not at 0,0 and using inches 🤣
You're not using an ArcGIS inaccessible cad management service i.e. cad files are accessible on a network share etc.

In Catalog you can check if your DWG/DXF has an assigned coordinate system. If not, you can assign one in Properties > Validate Position.  Look at the Extent under Geolocation for a quick sanity check.

Then, when you expand the DWG/DXF in the folder it is located (as you would for a FGDB) you'll see the basic geometry objects and can add them to a map without importing anything.

It can get more complicated but this is the basic bones.

A very large quality of life improvement can be had if the CAD group follows proper CAD Standards. This should contain data structure (all object geometry in XREFs, no valid data in layer 0, etc), the geometry methods (proper closed polygons vs crossed lines & hatches, use of curves vs stepped lines vs beziers), using masking text for labelling contours vs clipping contour lines, standard naming conventions & version control, standard colours, etc, etc.

If these are in place you can easily point an ArcGIS Pro project to a CAD folder and as the draughting group (AKA you in this case 😀 ) update/publish designs, your projects will show the most current data upon opening/refresh.

A key concept is to have defined layers to contain the minutia details so you can filter them out - you've seen the DWGs where the powerstation building footprint disturbance plan approval HAS to include the chairs,  phones on desks, and even detailed cars in parking lots........

I have worked in one place where we almost got it perfect. It reduces workload & re-work so much.

LizAbbey · Answer

It sounds like you're doing a lot of file type conversions in your workflow that aren't required for simply viewing data. ArcGIS can read AutoCAD files in .dwg and .dxf formats, so you don't need to export to KML at all. Set your map frame to be the same coordinate system as your CAD file, then bring it in via the Add Data or from the Catalog pane. Changes to the CAD file will flow through to your map. You might need to remove the layer and re-add it if it's caching though. Equally, ArcGIS can read KMLs without any conversion either, so just bring that in like any other layer to review - no need to convert it to a geodatabase. Both CAD and KMLs are read-only, but it sounds like you're doing the editing in AutoCAD anyway.