Creating Surfaces from GIS Data

2012-03-14

Product Documentation

Intermediate

Import GIS (Geographic Information System) data to create a Civil 3D surface.

A GIS is typically associated with a datastore maintained by a local government and contains data on various features, such as cadastral information (land parcels), infrastructure (storm sewers, sanitary sewers, and utilities), zoning information, and other data that may be relevant to a civil development project. You can import GIS data into AutoCAD Civil 3D to support engineering design workflows.

AutoCAD Civil 3D enables you to connect directly to a GIS datastore and import GIS data, such as contours and point collections, without any intermediate data or file conversion.

To import data from a GIS datastore and create a Civil 3D surface

Click Home tabCreate Ground Data panelSurfaces drop-downCreate Surface From GIS Data.At the Command prompt, enter CreateSurfaceFromGISData.
On the Object Options page of the Import GIS Data wizard, specify the standard properties for the new surface object.
On the Connect to Data page, specify the data source type and the GIS datastore connection parameters:
- If you select the SHP file as the data source type, click to specify a single shape file or click to specify multiple files in a folder.
- If you select ArcSDE- or Oracle-based datastores, specify a path and user login information. Click Login.
  
  Important
  If you connect to a datastore using ArcSDE connection, you must install three DLL files. For information about installing the DLLs, see "Working with ESRI ArcSDE Data" in the AutoCAD Map 3D User’s Guide.
If connecting to Oracle or ArcSDE datastore, specify the datastore and click Connect to Datastore.

Note
The connection to the datastore is terminated after the import GIS data operation is completed.
On the Schema and Coordinates page, specify the GIS schema.

Note
The schema Default is always used for SHP files.
Optionally, assign the coordinate system, which may differ from the current Civil 3D drawing, to the GIS feature class. In this case AutoCAD Civil 3D performs coordinate transformation.
Select a GIS feature class from the list.
Optionally, click Restore the Original Coordinate System to revert to the default setting.
Optionally, on the Geospatial Query page, select Define Area of Interest By or and select the geospatial query boundary type:
- Polygon: Retrieve all objects in a defined polygon.
- Fence: Retrieve all objects that are crossed by a defined line.
- Circle: Retrieve all objects in a defined circle.
Alternatively, click to select an object in the drawing or specify the query area manually.
On the Data Mapping page, preview the results of the geospatial query where the GIS feature attributes are displayed in the GIS Field column and assign a corresponding Civil 3D object property to each field.
Click Finish.
The objects are added to the Civil 3D drawing.