What's New in ArcGIS 9.2 for CAD: Part 1

My daughter Evie has made tremendous strides in her swimming this year. She is only two and a half but can already swim the length of the pool, albeit closely monitored. Entirely self-taught (sister encouraged) she can float on her back, float face down, move backwards while kicking, climb out of the pool from any edge, grab the pool edge from anywhere inside the pool, can pull herself hand-over-hand round the entire edge of the pool, she can tread water for minutes at a time, and performs a modified crawl stroke with her face under the water, stopping to take a breaths while treading water. The secret of her success is immersion. She has been swimming every single day since the summer started.

Much to Grandma’s displeasure, she often ventures into the “deep-end” without hesitation. My 13yr old is quick to point out that for Evie (who cannot touch the bottom of the pool at any point accept the first and second step), the entire pool is the “deep-end”. In that way she has an advantage; she has no prejudice for one level or the other, everything is over her head!

In the spirit of something new, lets talk about the things I like most about what is coming in ArcGIS 9.2 as they relate to GIS and CAD Interoperability.

Top Ten New For CAD in ArcGIS 9.2 :

1. The ArcGIS CAD Drawing Layer has been moved into the CAD Feature Dataset. (The white icon is now found inside the blue folder).
2. The CAD Attribute table of a CAD Feature Class includes More CAD Properties. (Notable additions are an angle value, the CAD file name and an elevation value.)
3. Annotation/Text Support has been Improved. (Better CAD TEXT Rendering and Better TEXT creation.)
4. The CAD Property Sheets have been standardized to work the same as other ArcGIS feature classes.
5. ArcGIS includes a help section dedicated to working with CAD data.
6. CAD Feature Classes are rendered in ArcMap using information from the CAD drawing. (Where possible the CAD colors, line styles and fonts are used by default to drawn features in ArcMap.)
7. When an entire CAD file is added to ArcMap the five standard CAD feature classes are organized in the Table of Contents as a Group Layer.
8. AutoCAD Block Attributes and Microstation Tag elements are included in the CAD Annotation feature class. (Now tags and block attributes can be used as annotation without having to use the Label tool to see the information on the map.)
9. The ArcMap Georeferencing toolbar has been modified to support the interactive georeferencing of CAD files. (You can use the tools to fit, rotate, nudge and snap a CAD file into its proper coordinate space. And, then have it automatically generate a world file (.WLD) for you.)
10. The biggest improvement in my mind for CAD interoperability in ArcGIS 9.2 are the other non-CAD-Specific improvements to ArcGIS 9.2, which Include: Batch processing of any geoprocessing tool, Iteration capabilities in Model Builder, Model Builder Variables, Roller Mouse Pan/Zoom navigation in ArcMap, The AutoCAD and Microstation Image Server Clients, ArcGIS Server Map Services with embedded CAD data, … and more.

Continue to Part 2