To Bring ArcGIS Data into Civil 3D

You can bring ArcGIS data layers that contain points, lines, and polygons into Civil 3D as alignments, feature lines, gravity pipes, parcels, points, or structures.

When bringing in each layer, you can specify what type of Civil 3D object to create. When the ArcGIS data is brought into a drawing, the Civil 3D objects are created in the drawing and the ArcGIS attributes are added to property sets that are created automatically.

If you choose to create gravity pipes and structures, you are prompted to set up schema mapping settings so that specified ArcGIS attributes are mapped to Civil 3D properties.

Important: Before bringing ArcGIS data into a drawing with the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS, install the ArcGIS Projection Engine Data. The Projection Engine Data prevents a coordinate offset from occurring when you bring ArcGIS data into a drawing. To prevent a coordinate offset issue from occurring when you save back to ArcGIS, you can use a coordinate system that has an EPSG code.

To bring ArcGIS data into Civil 3D

1. Install the ArcGIS Projection Engine Data. The Projection Engine Data prevents a coordinate offset from occurring when you bring ArcGIS data into a drawing.
2. Ensure that your drawing has a coordinate system assigned to it. If a coordinate system is not specified for the drawing, you will be prompted to assign one after selecting the data to bring in.
   • If you plan on saving the data back to ArcGIS, check if the coordinate system has an EPSG code.
   • If you plan to publish to ArcGIS or export to FGDB, check if the coordinate system is unsupported.
3. Click Insert tab ArcGIS panel Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS .

   The sign in dialog box is displayed.

4. Sign in to ArcGIS to access your data, or click Access as Guest to access public data.

   The Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS dialog box is displayed.

5. Navigate to your area of interest.
   • Enter a location name, address, or point of interest in the search bar. You can also input longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates.
   • Use the mouse to pan and zoom, or use the zoom in/out tools (+/- buttons) to further refine your search.
6. Select the area of interest using any of the following methods:
   • Click to select the current map extents.
   • Click to draw a rectangular area of interest on the map.
   • Click to import a polygonal area of interest from SHP data.
     Note: To use SHP data, create a .zip file that contains the related SHP dataset files and then select that .zip file during this step. After the SHP dataset is opened, the polygons in the SHP dataset appear in the map view. Click a polygon to select it as the area of interest.

   If you draw or import the area of interest, it is displayed as a boundary box.

7. Browse available datasets for the selected area of interest using the My Content, My Groups, Organization, and Public filters.

   See the ArcGIS Online Help to understand how to find and work with your ArcGIS Online content.

   Note: If you do not see any available datasets, try zooming out from your area of interest.
8. Select the datasets that you want to work with.
9. On the Layers tab for each selected dataset, select the data layers that you want to add to your drawing.
10. Click next to each layer to preview the data in the map area.
11. Select a feature type for each layer.

    The ArcGIS data layers are generated as objects in Civil 3D using the feature types that you select.

12. Click Add to My Design Project.

    If you are bringing in pipe network data, the Schema Mapping dialog box is displayed. Specify which source attributes you want to map to the properties in Civil 3D and click OK.

    • The ArcGIS data is added to your Civil 3D drawing.
    • Property sets are created for the attributes.
    • Points from a selected ArcGIS layer are added to a new point group.
    • Parcels from a selected ArcGIS layer are created in a single site.
    • Alignments and feature lines are added to the top-level collections in Prospector and are not associated with a site.
    • Pipes and structures are added to a pipe network named ArcGIS Network.
    • You can check the Event Viewer for messages that occur during the import or pipe network schema mapping.

To view property set data for imported ArcGIS datasets

When you bring an ArcGIS dataset into a drawing, property sets are created for dataset and are applied to the Civil 3D objects. You can view this property set data on the Extended Data tab of the AutoCAD Properties Palette.

1. Select a Civil 3D object in the drawing that was created by bringing in ArcGIS data.
2. Right-click and select Properties to display the AutoCAD Properties Palette.
3. Click the Extended Data tab.
4. Under Property Sets, review the property set data that was created for the object.

For more information about property sets, see About Property Sets.