Converting Map to.DWG and/or .DGN

WilliamRice1

Software: ArcMap 10.1 , Standard License.

 

I have been trying to convert my map into a .dwg and/or .dgn file to later be used in CAD or Microstation. When I use the conversion tool to export to CAD, the resulting CAD map displays without the symbology associated within polygons and I cannot edit the map to display colors within the polygons.

 

So what I am really asking is, how do I get the symbology to from my original map to carry over into my new map?

 

-William

DonKuehne

The way CAD and GIS generate and display symbols are quite different.  The short answer is you would want to generate an empty drawing that contains the default CAD symbology that you want to use.  You would generate such a CAD file selecting the closest matches to line styles and colors that you can.  For point symbols you will need to define BLOCK inserts to match as best as you can the symbols used by ArcGIS.  That empty CAD file becomes the "seed file" or template file used by the EXPORT TO CAD tool.  Because of the vastly different ways symbols are assigned and persisted, unfortunately right now it is a lot of hard work. 

To dictate how your ArcGIS data lands in the CAD file and how it uses the different colors, line styles and CAD symbols you established in your SEED FILE, you would employ the more advanced field driven capabilities of the EXPORT TO CAD geoprocessing tool, or perhaps an even more robust translation crafted with the Data Interoperability Extension.  I wish I had a better answer.  Perhaps others do.