Tag: CAD-data

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AutoCAD Map/FDO – Spatial Query with displayMngr plugin

Spatial QueryGenerally GIS-data is available on a complete other scale than CAD-users need for their projects.

Importing that GIS-dataset into a CAD-environment gives an overkill of data. It would be very useful to add connections to the feature layers in GIS, limited to the area needed for the project.

This is possible by using AutoCAD Map/FDO Data Connect and a Spatial Query. But this is not very user friendly. That is why vdPConsulting has developed a displayMngr plugin.

This is the workflow:

  • Make sure that the desirable feature layers are connected, by using a pre-defined template or so called .layer files.
  • Load the displayMngr plugin.
  • Start the command “filterWindow” or “filterCrossing”.
  • Indicate the desirable area by picking two points on the map.
  • The plugin creates the SQL filter statements and “inject” these into the definitions of the connected feature layers.

If you want more information about using AutoCAD Map/FDO and GIS-databases or the displayMngr plugin, please contact me.

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Drawing classified pipeline networks with drawingAssistant

Oasen drinkwater, a water company manages its pipeline network in DiaGIS, a GIS management system developed by SPIE Technology. In addition to managing the existing network, they make drawings for maintenance or enhancements to the network. The physical work on the network is performed by contractors.

These contractors are obliged to survey the new pipelines and to create an asbuild AutoCAD drawing for the water company. Currently, only the locations of the pipes are returned, not the attribute information such as material, diameter, etc. When processing these revision drawings into the GIS management system, often questions from the engineer to the contractor emerge and it takes relatively much time before the network is up-to-date in the GIS management system.

drawingAssistant userinterface formOasen drinkwater wants to optimize this process and SPIE Technology came to vdPConsulting requesting the development of an AutoCAD plugin; drawingAssistant.

When the plugin is loaded into AutoCAD at first an XML configuration file is processed. This file is created by DiaGIS and contains all objects and their attributes necessary for the contractor to create the asbuild drawings. Then the plugin dynamically creates the user interface form that adapts itself when another object is selected from the list of possible objects. When the corresponding attributes are provided with the correct values, the object can be drawn. The plugin also checks first if all mandatory attributes are filled in.

Often measurements are captured by surveying instruments and the pipes are drawn as “ordinary” AutoCAD polylines in the drawing. The drawingAssistant plugin has, besides the drawing functions, also functionality to classify such a polyline as pipe including the desired attributes.

To exchange data with the GIS management system, the plugin has an export function to GML. DiaGIS has a GML import function which handles the revisions directly. Of course, the engineer has to check the result afterwards, but delivery of the revisions is simplified and the GIS management system is faster up-to-date.

If you want more information about the drawingAssistant plugin, please contact me.

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AutoCAD blocks as MapGuide 6.5 symbols

Last week I got the following question: “how can I use AutoCAD blocks as MapGuide 6.5 symbols ?”

In the current system configuration, AutoCAD drawings are exported into several SDF-files and Access-tables. The texts and point-objects are exploded first to be exported into lines. It was never necessary to define point-symbols for MapGuide.

Currently the drawings are migrated into Oracle Spatial ( as part of a BGT-project ). The texts and point-objects are stored as Points in the database. The matching texts become attributes and can be displayed as labels. However for the point-symbols they would like to have the same symbols as in CAD, to give the map the same look and feel in the web-viewer.

MapGuide 6.5 has a Symbol Manager utility, to build a library of symbols.
AutoCAD has an Export command, to export AutoCAD blocks into WMF-files.

This solved the question.

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AcClassify Workflow utility ( update )

AcClassify Workflow utilityAt one of the migration projects where I am involved, the source data is managed in AutoCAD Map and there must be a regular update of the data posted into an Oracle Spatial database. From this Oracle database the large scale data is shared with the GIS-department and used for web-applications. To support this migration process I have developed an AcClassify Workflow utility.

The customer – a Dutch province – has stored their large scale basemaps in DWG-files into a very detailed folder structure on a fileserver. For each provincial road there is a sub-folder, with topografie but also other sub-folders with DWG’s for the theme’s like roadsigns and green management etc.

The Workflow utility – a C# application, that runs inside AutoCAD Map – gives in the UI the possibility to select the roadnumber, the option to delete old data from that roadnumber from Oracle and to upload the new data into Oracle using AcClassify.

If this is an update, than de utility will remove the old data from that roadnumber from their respective feature tables ( for roads, water, buildings etc. ) using SQL Delete statements. Next the utility creates the necessary AcClassify config XML-files ( adding roadnumber, Oracle schema-name etc. ). Than the AcClassify process is started using API-functionality.

With this the workprocess, with a lot of manual action, is reduced to a userfriendly AcClassify Workflow utility.

New : there is an update of this utility that starts the AcClassify process using API-functionality

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SDI workflow demo

In my previous post I was talking about a CSWclient prototype. During the Autodesk EMEA GeoSpatial TechCamp2008 in Disneyland Paris, I’ve presented an SDI workflow demo on mainstage.

A city is planning a new housing area and has to extend the existing water, gas and electricity networks.
On the existing basemap they have planned the new houses and streets, and from the utility company they would like to add the existing infrastructure to connect the new utility design.
With the CSWclient they ask the SDI from the utility company about available maps in the area ‘Kouwenhovenselaan’.
The response from the SDI – a list with references to available maps – is used to connect the maps to the AutoCAD Map work-session.

The trenches for the new utilities go to the contractor, who returns an as-built drawing with the exact location after the construction has finished.
On this kind of CAD-drawings the contractor is using texts to mark the used materials and diameters.
It is important to migrate not only the location information, but also materials and diameters into the utility maintenance database.

With a special function in AcClassify it is possible to find texts on a certain layer within a buffer around the lines.
These text values are written as diameter attributes into the database.