What is the best workflow for getting CAD data in a usable format for ArcGISPro?
.png "MatthewBeal"){kind=avatar}
I receive a lot of CAD data for utilities for our local government. When I add a CAD file into ArcGIS Pro, it usually loads in fine, but in a practically unusable way. Here is an example:
As you can see in the first picture there is a ton of large and awkwardly formatted text. If I look at this same file in DWG trueview, it does not look like this. The text is much smaller and doesn't overlap itself.
The second, and largest problem is that all of the cad layers are grouped together so you can't cut things off individually. I don't care about 90% of the things in this drawing. I am only interested in water line data. In DWG trueview, I am able to cut the various layers on/off as needed. But when adding the dwg to arcpro, it just lumps all the lines into one file, all the polygons in another, all the points in another, and all the text in another. There is no easy way to quickly toggle the individual layers on/off without diving in and doing definition queries on the layer. Is there an easier way to make this data usable? I don't have ~$2000/year to buy Autocad that allows you to export shapefiles easily. Any other alternatives?
I deal with this all the time and am also normally just interested in the polylines data.
Also, I get CAD files from numerous sources so the format/layers/etc. is never the same.
I have a separate project set up in Pro connected to a bunch of output layers in a FGDB. In Pro, I use the feature class to feature class GP tool, and for the input, I navigate to the Polyline data 'inside' the dwg files.
Since there is no consistency from designers, I use CAD or Pro (think you can use TrueView also) to find out what "Layer(s)" in the dwg holds the lines that I am interested in and set a Where clause in the fc2fc tool to Layer includes the value(s), and pick all the layers that hold the desired data.
I run this tool for the data I'm interested in (sewer, water, storm lines), then close that project.
I then open my AsBuilt editing project that is already connected to the layers I output above.
It's been a while since I tried the GP tool that @Eugene_Adkins suggested as I was only interested in a small subset of the lines from the dwg. Might have to take another look at that, but thought I'd chime in about one method that has been working well for me.
R_
