topic Re: Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD in Data Management Questions

Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD

JeffGarcia1 — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:39:06 GMT

Hey there,

I have a client who is requesting data in an AutoCAD format with the attribute data beign vital to display in AutoCAD 2013. I exported the requested data to a shapefile and used the geoprocessing tool, Export to CAD, thinking it was that simple. Well they didn't not see the attribute data along with the points. I then searched the forums and following threads:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00100000001r000000.htm
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001000000073000000.htm

Those pointed me towards the seed file creation and also the extra fields on the shapefile. I did these steps and know the client can't even view the file sent over. And I can't see the file in my AutoCAD. It as if there was no data in the export. I'm using ArcMap Info 10.0 SP 3, AutoCAD Lt 09 at my work station? They have AutoCAD 2013\12 I believe.

Questions are what level of AutoCAD does this tool support? Do we need to download the AutoCAD plug-in at both workstations to view the data, being exported by the geoprocessing tool? Do I need to create a geodatabase feature and annotation features? Are there any more steps or tricks I might be missing, any help or thoughts would be apperciated.

Re: Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD

RobertBorchert — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:46:30 GMT

Export as a shapefile. Then import the shapefile in AutoCAD instead

However, I have yet to see anything that will import your map into AutoCAD so it will look like your ArcGIS did. Points will be Points, Polygons will be hatches and Polylines will be lines.

Hey there,

I have a client who is requesting data in an AutoCAD format with the attribute data beign vital to display in AutoCAD 2013. I exported the requested data to a shapefile and used the geoprocessing tool, Export to CAD, thinking it was that simple. Well they didn't not see the attribute data along with the points. I then searched the forums and following threads:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00100000001r000000.htm
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001000000073000000.htm

Those pointed me towards the seed file creation and also the extra fields on the shapefile. I did these steps and know the client can't even view the file sent over. And I can't see the file in my AutoCAD. It as if there was no data in the export. I'm using ArcMap Info 10.0 SP 3, AutoCAD Lt 09 at my work station? They have AutoCAD 2013\12 I believe.

Questions are what level of AutoCAD does this tool support? Do we need to download the AutoCAD plug-in at both workstations to view the data, being exported by the geoprocessing tool? Do I need to create a geodatabase feature and annotation features? Are there any more steps or tricks I might be missing, any help or thoughts would be apperciated.

Re: Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD

KarenHodge — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:32:59 GMT

Let's see if I can help here.

Your goal is to end up with a CAD drawing where the GIS attributes can be seen in the CAD application, right? You also posed a couple of questions--which I will answer--but first let's see if we can create a useful CAD drawing.

Off the top of my head, I can think of three ways to acheive that goal. Which you choose depends on a couple of things.

Option 1: Export the GIS attributes as Block Attributes
This is the option explained at http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00100000001r000000.htm. This option will ONLY work if the attributes you need to share are on points. It will not work if the attributes are on lines or areas. (Yes, there are workarounds where you generate points from your lines, yada yada.) It is a nice option, however, because the attributes look like text in the drawing.

The help topic explains it fairly thoroughly. The key requirements are: You must start with a seed DWG that includes block definitions with attribute defs; you must include and populate the cad fields CadType and RefName for each entity you want to export. You'll probably want to export in a 2010 DWG format and your seed file should also be a 2010 format.

This option will work at all ArcGIS license levels and does not require any plug ins.

If you can't get this working, it is probably just a simple tweak of your process. If this sounds like the best solution to you, then I'm sure we can walk you through it.

Option 2: Exporting to Shape
As another poster mentioned, you can export to a SHP file. Autodesk Map/Civil products are able to import SHP files. This is not my favorite option for a couple of reasons. One--you have to have Map3d, not plain vanilla AutoCAD. Two--SHP files don't support curves, so if your original data includes curves, they'll be broken down into line segments.

Option 3: Using ArcGIS for AutoCAD
Your scenario is one of the driving reasons Esri created this product. To use this, you simply export the DWG from your map using Export to CAD. It always includes all the attributes from the features on all the exported features. You will need to download and install the plugin on any workstation where you want to see the attributes. (If the plug in is not installed, you can still work on the drawing, you just won't see the attributes.) ArcGIS for AutoCAD is free to download from http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-autocad/download.

This is probably the easiest way to get the results you want. The plug in is supported on AutoCAD 2010 through 2013 (although we're also running it on 2014 in-house.) It works with both 32-bit and 64-bit. The plug in is not supported on LT--simply because Autodesk doesn't allow plug-ins in LT.

One downside...you'll see the attributes as properties of the features--not as TEXT in the drawing. If you want the attributes to show as text in the drawing and you want to use the plug-in: start with geodatabase annotation and include the annotation feature layers in your export.

The ArcGIS license level doesn't matter and this has been around since 9.3, so you should be fine.

Does this help?

To answer your specific questions:
What level of AutoCAD does this tool support? If you mean ArcGIS for AutoCAD--2010 through 2013 (2014 is ok too). If you mean the geoprocessing tool Export to CAD, you can export DWG formats up to 2012 (and 2013 reads 2012 format just fine).

Do we need to download the AutoCAD plug-in at both workstations? Yes.

Are there any more steps or tricks I might be missing? Possibly--but hard to tell without more information. Take a look at your options and let me know which you want to explore and we can go into more detail.

Hey there,

I have a client who is requesting data in an AutoCAD format with the attribute data beign vital to display in AutoCAD 2013. I exported the requested data to a shapefile and used the geoprocessing tool, Export to CAD, thinking it was that simple. Well they didn't not see the attribute data along with the points. I then searched the forums and following threads:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00100000001r000000.htm
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001000000073000000.htm

Those pointed me towards the seed file creation and also the extra fields on the shapefile. I did these steps and know the client can't even view the file sent over. And I can't see the file in my AutoCAD. It as if there was no data in the export. I'm using ArcMap Info 10.0 SP 3, AutoCAD Lt 09 at my work station? They have AutoCAD 2013\12 I believe.

Questions are what level of AutoCAD does this tool support? Do we need to download the AutoCAD plug-in at both workstations to view the data, being exported by the geoprocessing tool? Do I need to create a geodatabase feature and annotation features? Are there any more steps or tricks I might be missing, any help or thoughts would be apperciated.

Re: Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD

VivianaRodriguez — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 18:21:30 GMT

I used the geoprocessing tool To CAD and downloaded the plug in but I am still only seeing limited information in the properties (coordinates and name of layer) when I open the .dwg file in AutoCAD. Not sure what I am missing. Please help.

Re: Attribute Data not coming over to AutoCAD

Vishalkumar — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 10:28:34 GMT

I think i have read in on a blog that Auto Cad 2013 can change data easily. You should try for this and i have less knowledge od auto cad.... Good luck...