If you are new to AutoCAD Map 3D toolset, your drawings might not be ready to take advantage of the features in AutoCAD Map 3D toolset. This lesson covers some ways to prepare your data.
If your data is still stored in paper drawings, you can use AutoCAD Raster Design toolset to digitize them and save them in AutoCAD drawing format.
You can also use AutoCAD Raster Design toolset to georeference your data. Georeferencing aligns the drawing objects to real-world locations. Georeferenced drawings take advantage of many AutoCAD Map 3D toolset features, such as combining data from multiple sources.
This tutorial does not cover the required steps in AutoCAD Raster Design toolset to digitize and georeference drawings. Consult the AutoCAD Raster Design toolset documentation for this information.
For more information about AutoCAD Raster Design toolset, see http://www.autodesk.com/rasterdesign.
When you edit drawings in AutoCAD Map 3D toolset, others can work on those same drawings at the same time. Individual objects are locked when you work on them, so one person can edit part of a drawing while someone else works on a different section.
To use this feature, follow the procedures in this lesson to set up a drive alias.
To incorporate existing drawings into maps, the drawings must be georeferenced. Otherwise, the drawing objects do not align with features in larger maps.
Maps use coordinate systems to describe the position of objects using their longitude and latitude relative to a particular datum (an agreed-upon reference point). Once you assign a coordinate system to a map, you can add data to that map from drawings that use different coordinate systems. AutoCAD Map 3D toolset automatically converts the data when you add it to the map, so everything lines up.
However, if the incoming data does not have a coordinate system assigned to it, there is no way to convert it. Instead, designate the position of the data yourself.
This lesson shows you how to align objects in a non-georeferenced drawing with features in a drawing with a known coordinate system.