During the import process, you can choose to designate an external database into which you can

import the attribute data from the incoming .gis file.

Before you do that, you need to have the database attached, and a link template defined so that

AutoCAD Map 3D can find the location that this data will be imported to. First, open a blank drawing,

and then you can start by setting up the external database.

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the exercise files, and drag the REDDING_DATASET.MDB file

and drop it into the Map Explorer. You can see that the data source is now attached and that it

includes three tables. Right-click the Zoning table and select View. Here, you can see that this table is

empty. This is a target table that has been prepared to receive the incoming data from the .dbf file

that is associated with the .shp file during the import process. Part of this preparation is to understand

what type of data will be imported and to create the table so that it can properly receive that data. In

this case, there are some prepared fields, but it's not required that these fields exactly match the field

names of the incoming data.

The next step is to create a link template. Close the Data View, and in the Map Explorer right-click

Link Template, and select Define Link Template. In the Define Link Template dialog, for Data Source,

select REDDING_DATASET. Next, expand the Table Name list, and select the Zoning table. For Link

Template Name, type "Zoning".

Next, you need to select the key column. For this import select the Feature ID column. With all of that

set, click OK.

Now you are ready to start the Import command. On the ribbon, Insert tab, Import panel, click Map

Import. In the Import Location dialog, select the zoning.shp file, and click OK. In the Import dialog,

leave most of the current settings as the default values, and concentrate on the data. Under the Data

column, click inside the cell, and then click the ellipsis () button. In the Attribute Data dialog box,

select Create Object data. Once you do, the lower portion of the dialog becomes available and lists

the link templates that you have in this drawing. Since this drawing only contains one link template, it

is automatically selected for you.

Next, click Select fields. In the External Database Mapping dialog box, you can see that AutoCAD
Map has already done some field matching for you. Wherever it found a field in the target database

with a name that matches the field of the incoming data, it created that mapping for you. When the

target database names do not match with the incoming data, that information is left deselected. At

that point, you will need to check the boxes for each piece of information that you also want brought

in. With those all set, click OK, and OK again in the Attribute Data dialog.
Back in the Import dialog, in the Data field, you can now see an icon that represents a link template,

and the name of that link template. Enable the option to Import polygons as closed polylines, and

then click OK.

Once the import is complete, zoom to extents so that you can see the imported polygons. Select one

of the polygons, then right-click and select Properties. In the Properties palette, scroll down and you

can see that now there is link template data attached to this polygon. Close the Properties palette, and

in the Map Explorer, double-click the zoning table. Now in the Data View you can see that this table

was populated with the values during the import process, and that each record is linked to its

corresponding polygon.

This is a very effective way to create a linked, external database from other GIS formats. If you have

a database table that already has the values that you want, you can also perform an import that

would only link the incoming geometry to your existing data.