CAD and GIS in 1998

An ESRI White Paper May 1998

Copyright 1997, 1998 Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. This work is protected under United States copyright law and other international copyright treaties and conventions. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts Manager, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 92373-8100 USA. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS Any software, documentation, and/or data delivered hereunder is subject to the terms of the License Agreement. In no event shall the Government acquire greater than RESTRICTED/LIMITED RIGHTS. At a minimum, use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-14 Alternates I, II, and III (JUN 1987); FAR 52.227-19 (JUN 1987) and/or FAR 12.211/12.212 (Commercial Technical Data/Computer Software); and DFARS 252.227-7015 (NOV 1995) (Technical Data) and/or DFARS 227.7202 (Computer Software), as applicable. Contractor/Manufacturer is Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 380 New York Street, Redlands, CA 923738100 USA. In the United States and in some countries, ARC/INFO, ArcCAD, ArcView, ESRI, and PC ARC/INFO are registered trademarks; 3D Analyst, ADF, AML, ARC COGO, ARC GRID, ARC NETWORK, ARC News, ARC TIN, ARC/INFO, ARC/INFO LIBRARIAN, ARC/INFOProfessional GIS, ARC/INFOThe World's GIS, ArcAtlas, ArcBrowser, ArcCAD, ArcCensus, ArcCity, ArcDoc, ARCEDIT, ArcExplorer, ArcExpress, ARCPLOT, ArcPress, ArcScan, ArcScene, ArcSchool, ArcSdl, ARCSHELL, ArcStorm, ArcTools, ArcUSA, ArcUser, ArcView, ArcWorld, Atlas GIS, AtlasWare, Avenue, BusinessMAP, DAK, DATABASE INTEGRATOR, DBI Kit, ESRI, ESRITeam GIS, ESRI The GIS People, FormEdit, Geographic Design System, GIS by ESRI, GIS for Everyone, GISData Server, IMAGE INTEGRATOR, InsiteMAP, MapCaf, MapObjects, NetEngine, PC ARC/INFO, PC ARCEDIT, PC ARCPLOT, PC ARCSHELL, PC DATA CONVERSION, PC NETWORK, PC OVERLAY, PC STARTER KIT, PC TABLES, SDE, SML, Spatial Database Engine, StreetMap, TABLES, the ARC COGO logo, the ARC GRID logo, the ARC NETWORK logo, the ARC TIN logo, the ARC/INFO logo, the ArcCAD logo, the ArcCAD WorkBench logo, the ArcData emblem, the ArcData logo, the ArcData Online logo, the ARCEDIT logo, the ArcExplorer logo, the ArcExpress logo, the ARCPLOT logo, the ArcPress logo, the ArcPress for ArcView logo, the ArcScan logo, the ArcStorm logo, the ArcTools logo, the ArcView 3D Analyst logo, the ArcView Data Publisher logo, the ArcView GIS logo, the ArcView Internet Map Server logo, the ArcView Network Analyst logo, the ArcView Spatial Analyst logo, the ArcView StreetMap logo, the Atlas GIS logo, the Avenue logo, the BusinessMAP logo, the BusinessMAP PRO logo, the Common Design Mark, the DAK logo, the ESRI corporate logo, the ESRI globe logo, the MapCaf logo, the MapObjects logo, the MapObjects Internet Map Server logo, the NetEngine logo, the PC ARC/INFO logo, the SDE logo, the SDE CAD Client logo, The World's Leading Desktop GIS, ViewMaker, Water Writes, and Your Personal Geographic Information System are trademarks; and ArcData, ARCMAIL, ArcOpen, ArcQuest, ArcWatch, ArcWeb, Rent-a-Tech, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are service marks of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. The names of other companies and products herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

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CAD and GIS in 1998

An ESRI White Paper

Contents State of the Art: 1998 What's Changing in CAD in 1998? How Do These Changes Affect GIS? Creating CAD Data for Use in GIS Other Hot CAD Topics in 1998 ESRI's CAD Solutions Finding the Right Solution for Today Adding GIS to CAD Using CAD Data Storing, Managing, and Sharing CAD Data Three-Dimensional CAD and GIS Visualization The Future and How to Be Prepared CAD-Based GIS or CAD and GIS? Be Prepared Summary Page 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6

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CAD and GIS in 1998

The relationship between computer-aided design (CAD) and geographic information systems (GISs) has changed yet again in 1998. The changes are as much results of the rearchitecting of CAD software by vendors as they are results of changes to the fundamental model of computing. However, CAD technology and its data still hold a distinct, classic role in mapping tasks. How we work with CAD and use its data has not changed radically. This paper outlines some of the changes in the industry and suggests how to best use CAD technology in conjunction with, or as a data creator for, GIS. State of the Art: 1998 What's Changing in CAD in 1998?
The CAD industry has had two main foci over the last year. First, the push is on to redefine software's underlying structure. For several companies this means overhauling much of the core program. Autodesk completed AutoCAD Release 14 in mid 1997. Release 14 is a completely revamped system with a full object-oriented model and a significant speed increase. Bentley Systems' newest version of MicroStation, MicroStation/J, expected late in 1998, presents a similar low-level restructuring aiming to provide object functionality and to incorporate Java into the package. Both companies have worked hard to continue to support legacy drawings. The second focus in the CAD world is low-cost software. Many new solutions, with varying levels of compatibility with the existing drawing data, have appeared in the $500 range. Products like Intergraph's Imagineer, Dietek's DynaCADD, SoftSource's Vdraft, and Visio's IntelliCAD now aim to fill this niche. Autodesk's own AutoCAD LT stands among them.

How Do These Changes Affect GIS?

GIS is as much about the relationships between objects as their creation. Thus, as vendors complete their object models, ESRI will work hard to use the information embedded in those objects. However, in 1998 the object models are still in their infancy. CAD files still contain lines and cells, blocks and text. These are the core data that will be built into GIS data or interpreted as GIS data. The processes used to create CAD files have not undergone any serious change. Although objects are coming onto the CAD scene in such things as Softdesk's AutoArchitect and Visio's Smart Shapes, objects have not yet become widespread in CAD software. In fact, the first goal of the industry initiative for data sharing focuses on the simplest of objectspoints, lines, and polygons. The sharing of objects is certainly in the works, but for now CAD and GIS users are still working with these simple features.

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The Move from CAD Primitives to Objects: In 1998 We Are Not Yet Working with Objects

Objects Line Work

PrimitivesSimple points, lines, and polygons. No internally assigned information about behaviors or features represented.

ObjectsSame primitive with internal information on behavior. For example, a pipe must connect with other pipes. Each object also has internal information about what it represents, for example, a street centerline.

Creating CAD Data for Use in GIS

The keys to success in developing with CAD lines and other primitives (geometry without "intelligence") for later use in GIS are well known: First and foremost, use standards. It may sound easy, but any CAD manager will tell of the real-life complexity of implementing standards. The time when careful adherence to standards pays off comes when these data grow into intelligent objects. In a real sense, primitives will be "mapped" to newfangled objects. The way to assure the easiest transition is to use the CAD organizational tools we have nowlayers and levels, symbology, data tagging, colorsto carefully identify and distinguish our points, lines, and polygons. This not only makes the data immediately viable in today's systems, but assures that when objects are mature, the primitives will be well placed for the transition. A second key to success when working with CAD data destined for GIS is georeferencing. CAD primitives should at the very least be in correct relative position to each other. Schematics for the electric industrystick diagramsfall into this category. For data whose precise location on the earth is key, users will want to prepare the data in, or update them to, real-world coordinates. State Plane and Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) are perhaps the most popular for areas of towns or counties. Equally important, the choice of a system must be documented and neatly attached to the data as "metadata." The days of creating one's own coordinate system based on an arbitrary 0,0 are gone. Data are expensive and reusability is crucial throughout the life of a project. And, since GIS data typically are used over a long period of time in many different ways, by many different users, data without metadata lose value very quickly.

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The lower cost CAD packages introduce a new set of tools for building up this core information. Most are not designed to create or work with the forthcoming objects, but hold to the principal reason for CADbasic drafting. Thus, low-cost packages can be thought of as inexpensive data creation and editing tools for CAD data. The same caveat holds for them as it does for their more robust siblingsstandards and intelligent georeferencing make the difference. Even these inexpensive packages can make accurate data that can populate a GIS. Still, bear in mind that CAD data are a starting point for GIS; rarely are they the end of the process. These data will almost certainly need to be checked for errors and updated with topology or attribute information in a GIS.

Other Hot CAD Topics in 1998

"Enterprise," "enterprise computing," "collaborative engineering," and "client/server" are all terms being used in CAD, GIS, and information technology (IT) circles in 1998. They all point to a plan for data sharing, often around a centrally administered server. That server might only provide data (drawing files, documents, and spreadsheets, much like an "old-fashioned" file server), or it may also provide processing (conversion of those drawings or spatial searching of the data), making it an "application server." These technologies are very appealing to large organizations with diverse data sharing needs across many departments. Smaller organizations will likely benefit from developments in this realm in the future. These enterprise implementations mean that more people can access information: CAD, GIS, and traditional IS information. The individuals being added to the data access pipeline are not traditional CAD or GIS users but, more often than not, are less technical individuals with very focused needs. For them a whole new set of viewers and data access tools, Web browsers, and plug-ins are appearing. These are tools that often rely on Java and other new languages for their low overhead and cross-platform support. There are suggestions that three-dimensional visualization will become as ubiquitous as color in the coming year. More and more packages support three-dimensional surface models and can render objects above and below that surface. Most hardware can handle spinning a three-dimensional object in semi-real time with an inexpensive graphics card. Three-dimensional visualization is also growing in GIS. Triangulated irregular networks (TINs) and draped grids are turning up on desktop systems and being overlaid with road networks and air pollution models. Introducing three-dimensional CAD visualization into GIS is another realm where CAD and GIS data can be exploited.

ESRI'S CAD Solutions Finding the Right Solution for Today

Successful integration of CAD and GIS revolves around defining the tasks that need to be performed, who will be doing them, what type of data they need, and what type of tools they need. These, of course, vary from industry to industry. For example, both municipal (tax mapping, zoning) and utility (water, electric) CAD/GIS users need "editing," but the former are perhaps more interested in splitting parcels and the latter more interested in maintaining network topology (keeping their water pipes "connected"). As users determine their needs in these industries the tools of choice will become apparent.

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Adding GIS to CAD

CAD software is for computer-aided drafting and design. Its roots come from moving the drafting process to the computer. The tools for drawing lines and curves and creating text and geometric shapes are at its heart. But in and of itself, CAD software was not designed to address the spatial questions of nearness or relationships. It was not designed to clean up line work to form closed areas. The addition of these features to a CAD package effectively turns CAD software into a CAD-based GIS. ESRI's solution, ArcCAD software, adds much of the functionality of ARC/INFO to AutoCAD: cleanup tools, spatial analysis, thematic mapping, and projection utilities. At any time, both CAD tools and GIS tools are provided in the familiar CAD environment. This is the solution for those who want to remain in AutoCAD and create GIS data for use there or in other software packages. Alongside those who spend their days working with CAD software, are those who need access to the data created in CAD. These may be technical users drawing upon the data for complex analysis and modeling or those with viewing and light analysis needs. For these tasks ESRI relies on ARC/INFO software, the leading GIS package, and its companion, ArcView GIS software. ARC/INFO uses CAD in its own fully topological format. All of ARC/INFO software's suite of analytical, cleanup, projection, and data management applications are available to analyze these data. Over the last fifteen years, CAD data have been one of the most popular data sources for ARC/INFO in local government, utilities, and transportation applications. ArcView GIS presents CAD drawings as a data source for desktop GIS and mapping. DWG, DGN, and DXF files can be viewed, symbolized, queried, analyzed, and output along with images and tabular information. Less experienced users find the interface friendly, even for casual or infrequent use. Commercial and sample extensions to ArcView GIS add tools for CAD including the transformation of CAD files to real-world coordinates, support for Modular GIS Environment (MGE) format data, and data capture utilities.

Using CAD Data

Storing, Managing, and Sharing CAD Data

The unit of information for CAD data in the past has been the "file." Each morning technicians open the file or files needed for that day's work. Tiled files, often arranged on a grid, were and are the best way to manage the large data stores required for detailed coverage of large areas. With the development of new models for data storage, the unit of information is changing. Spatial data storage solutions like SDE, ESRI's Spatial Database Engine, mean that once separate tiles of data can now reside in a single continuous layer inside a database management system. This organizational structure removes the need for reference files and other solutions to knit together multiple CAD files. Traditional Tiling of CAD Files Versus a Single Continuous Layer

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SDE handles the storage and management of CAD data. It assures that data held in the repository are returned unaltered to the software that stored them. For CAD data that means that database linkage information and geometry definitions are maintained when the data are retrieved. But SDE is more than "a place to put CAD data." SDE is also an application server providing services, such as data queries, based on spatial and nonspatial parameters. These services assure that only the parts of the data set that are needed are returned, optimizing both client and server hardware and software. And, since SDE can serve data to many different clients, the CAD data stored inside can be "published" to others in the organization via other clients such as Web browsers, lightweight viewers such as ArcExplorer software, and desktop GIS tools such as ArcView GIS. The most advanced integration of three-dimensional CAD and GIS visualization comes Three-Dimensional CAD and GISB as part of the ArcView 3D Analyst extension. This allows all of ArcView GIS VisuaBlization software's supported data formats, including CAD, to be viewed, rotated, symbolized, and interrogated in three dimensions. The extension, for example, displays threedimensional pipes stored in a CAD file in their correct three-dimensional locations undergroundwith elevations read directly from the CAD file. Bringing together three dimensions from CAD sources and GIS sources presents a new opportunity to see patterns and explore relationships involving engineering, planning, and other disciplines.

The Future and How to Be Prepared CAD-Based GIS or CAD and GIS?
There have been two main strategies for linking CAD and GIS over the last ten or fifteen years. One focused on putting the two technologies together in one package, while a second developed facilities to make the two software packages or their data work together. The first solution might be likened to building a drawing tool utility that works inside a word processor. There are two sets of functionality: word manipulation tools in the processor and tools to draw boxes and lines in the graphics add-on. Something like this might be the right tool for someone with heavy word processing needs and light graphics needs. But, most likely, if the graphics needs should get complex, a fully functional graphics program would enter the mix. The second solution looks more like a software suite: a bundle of packages (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, etc.) that are designed to work together. The idea here is that you use the correct tool for the job. In this solution, instead of a lightweight drawing package, the user calls upon a full-fledged one, then uses the results in a word processing document. Each application is not burdened by the overhead of the others and is narrowly focused to do its job as well as possible. CAD-based GIS is the first scenario. It reaps all the benefits of the core CAD software drafting tools and third party applications. It then reaps all the benefits of GIS topological cleanup, analytical tools, and database connectivitybut it also includes a learning curve and a second data model. This suggests why CAD-based GIS continues to be quite complex to implement and maintain.

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CAD and GIS, sitting side by side, are the second scenario. Here CAD software is focused on design and engineering and GIS tackles CAD data in a meaningful analytical way. And, just like an office suite, when it's time to do a GIS task, one fires up a dedicated GIS software solution. The result may go back to the CAD package or perhaps into another document. At ESRI we see the evolution toward the second scenario, toward systems or components that work together. CAD and GIS can be thought of as components, much like in the suites described above. Our vision includes CAD as a technology and data creator that will play a key role in feeding the GIS of the future.

Be Prepared

ESRI is working on its object implementation of GIS. Our goal is to do as much with CAD technology and CAD data as possible. The upcoming months and years will clarify how objects change the way CAD and GIS users work. For now, there is still much work to be done in making CAD data into information and using the data throughout the enterprise. There is no doubt that the lessons we learn about sharing our existing data today will pay handsomely when our data move into objects. In the meantime, CAD users can ensure continued success by beginning some preparatory steps. These include Setting up and following standardsIf standards have been set, use them. If there are no standards, create them. If data already exist without standards, consider how to standardize them now. This may mean creating automated quality assurance routines in the CAD package or using GIS cleanup tools. In either case investment in good data today will pay off in the future. Working in real-world coordinates and creating metadataOnce data are shared with another user or organization, their history, precision, and coordinate system must be readily available. The best way to ensure data are shareable is to work in a documented coordinate system and maintain the metadata information with the data at all times. Share your dataTechnologically there are many ways to do this. Publishing data on the Web is perhaps the least expensive and time-consuming. Data sharing introduces new wrinkles into spatial data management. Once data are available, feedback, corrections, updates, and suggestions pour into the maintainers of the data. Welcome this opportunity to make your data better. Use the opportunity to create a process to follow up on discrepancies and perform updates in a timely manner. Share your knowledgeMake it a point to work with existing CAD and GIS users in your organization. Explore what they do, what type of data they use, and how they use the data. In the end, it does not matter whether the technologies work together if the people who drive it do not work together.

Summary

CAD and GIS are different technologies with much to share. New technologies like objects and data storage solutions are introducing new ways to bring the two together.

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Energy and resources must be committed now to create accurate well-defined, georeferenced CAD data. This up-front work will pay off as the primitives form the basis of intelligent objects in the coming years. In the meantime, consider the place of CAD and GIS data within your organization and how they can be shared for everyone's benefit.

ESRI White Paper

For more than 25 years ESRI has been helping people manage and analyze geographic information. ESRI offers a framework for implementing GIS in any organization with a seamless link from personal GIS on the desktop to enterprisewide GIS client/server and data management systems. ESRI GIS solutions are flexible and can be customized to meet the needs of our users. ESRI is a full-service GIS company, ready to help you begin, grow, and build success with GIS.

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