CAD to GIS without georeferencing?

[NanciSarcinello]

GIS and/or AutoCAD Users:

Is there any way to get a CAD drawing file to overlay a GIS basemap in the correct geographic location without having to georeference the CAD drawing? It seems that defining a spatial referenceffor the CAD drawing file does not do the trick. Does the person who created the CAD drawing have to assign a geographic coordinate system in AutoCAD? If so, what version of AutoCAD is needed to be able to do that?

Thanks for help!

[DanPatterson_Retired]

What version do you have?

This suggests that you only need a 'world' (esri_cad.wld) ) file

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/tools/conversion-toolbox/cad-to-geodatabase.htm

maybe you can construct one from 

http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/cad/world-files-for-cad-datasets.htm

[NanciSarcinello]

ArcGIS 10.4.1 Basic license.

I will check out those links.

Thanks, Dan!

[IanMurray]

I regularly have co-workers generate CAD drawings with a coordinate system in AutoCAD/Civil 3D, the entire drawing can be brought directly into the correct location in ArcGIS as long as the coordinate system in ArcGIS is the same as the one used in AutoCad.  The data still will not have a projection however, it will however be based on the same coordinate system and come into the proper locaiton.  I usually convert the CAD drawings to a shapefile or GDB by the type (Annotation, Point, Polyline, Polygon, Multipatch) and then define projection for the output files.

You will need to check with whomever created the CAD Drawing to see if it had a coordinate system and if so what is was. 

[NanciSarcinello]

Ian,

Do you know if other versions of AutoCAD have this capability (to create

drawings with a geographic coordinate system) or is it only possible in

Civil 3D?

Thanks!

Nanci

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Nanci... check the autodesk help reveals links https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoC... just filtered by Autocad

[IanMurray]

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoC...

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/AutoC...

I don't know for sure but the above help seems to indicate it can be done in AutoCAD itself.

[NanciSarcinello]

Ian,

FYI - it seems that only Civil 3D and Map 3D have the capability to assign

a geographic coordinate system to a drawing. This is according to AutoDesk

support.

[MitchMarkey1]

Ian (or whomever may be of assistance),

Can the original CAD drawing not be assigned a coordinate system prior to converting to a shapefile? Or do you still have to have an assigned coordinate system for the CAD file prior to converting?

I'm stuck with some old housing/zoning documents and they will not project as is, thus converting and then project could be a solution.

Mitch