Good Friday Fact Check

I’ve been reading some descriptions and interpretations of ArcGIS for AutoCAD from various sources. There seems to be some re-occurring confusion despite attempts to be clear about what it is and does. Perhaps this list will help.

1. ArcGIS for AutoCAD does not require ArcGIS Server. ArcGIS for AutoCAD is a free download that works on top of plain AutoCAD. All of its functionality can be used completely for free. I can access any free published map services with ArcGIS for AutoCAD as long as I know the URL and have access.
   
   Furthermore, I can view, modify and create GIS-ready data according to the Mapping Specification for Drawings using the feature class management tools that are provided in the free ArcGIS for AutoCAD application, which does not have anything to do with map services or ArcGIS Server. ArcGIS for AutoCAD has tools that work on stand-a-lone AutoCAD to create feature classes with attributes that are recognized by ArcGIS. ArcGIS desktop can directly read the entities in the AutoCAD files as GIS feature classes.
   
   
2. ArcGIS for AutoCAD does not publish map services. To publish map services you need a GIS server, like ArcGIS Server. To publish map services I need a licensed copy of ArcGIS Server. ArcGIS for AutoCAD is a client of ArcGIS Server Map Services, not unlike the free ArcGIS Explorer product is a free desktop client.
   
   
3. ArcGIS for AutoCAD is not designed to compete with AutoCAD based GIS ad-on software. Rather it is a product designed to assist me when I am working with ArcGIS workflows that include AutoCAD. It helps me interoperate between AutoCAD and ArcGIS because I have a way to attribute CAD entities that ArcGIS understands and also clarify how GIS data is organized in my AutoCAD file.
   
   
4. ESRI's mapping specification for drawings is not a software product. It is simply a specification. It is a piece of paper. It is an agreement between ESRI and the AutoCAD user that if AutoCAD files are structured in a certain way they will be understood by ESRI as having a certain format and organization of data and content. It is not meant to compete with any other workflows or software, but rather has been introduced as a proactive means to support ESRI customers that work with AutoCAD or extended teams that use AutoCAD. ArcGIS for AutoCAD provides a free user interface to the mapping specification for drawings inside AutoCAD. ArcGIS software reads and writes this style of AutoCAD data.
   
   
5. ArcGIS for AutoCAD does not provide a means to directly edit ArcGIS geodatabases. It may in the future, but the current release does not generate AutoCAD entities from map service content or any other means supplied in the application. Nor does it allow me to modify features from a map service or other ArcGIS data source.
   
   
6. ArcGIS for AutoCAD does not currently create or edit any other form of GIS data accept pure .dwg data formatted according to ESRI’s mapping specification for drawings. That is a good thing. The data is still pure .dwg with just enough non-graphic entity data to make the entities in the drawing directly usable as feature classes in ArcGIS. ArcGIS data exported to .dwg files is a snap-shot copy of the GIS content written to a .dwg file. It doesn’t mean I might not have a clever workflow to move data back and forth, but the data is not otherwise linked by software.
   
   
7. ArcGIS for AutoCAD supports ArcGIS Map Services and these images are not simply raster images. Map Services are georeferenced, scale dependent cached or dynamic services that are implemented inside of AutoCAD as a custom object that has various configurable behaviors that control the visibility of the entire map service or individual layers in the map service. ArcGIS for AutoCAD also provides a means to query the attribute records of features contained in the map service provided that functionality was published in the map service by ArcGIS Server.
   
   
8. ArcGIS for AutoCAD supports many, many coordinate definitions, all the same nominal coordinate systems supported by ArcGIS Server using a WKT (Well Known Text) string embedded in the .dwg according to ESRI’s Mapping Specification for Drawings.
   
   
9. ArcGIS for AutoCAD does not use any of the functionality of Autodesk Map 3D. Autodesk Map 3D proprietary data organization and coordinate systems are not accessible to the plain AutoCAD user or commercial applications that read standard .dwg files, like ArcGIS for example. It doesn’t mean they are bad, it just means they do not promote interoperability with ArcGIS as a data source. ArcGIS for AutoCAD will co-exist with ad-on’s to AutoCAD including Civil 3D and Map 3D insofar as these include AutoCAD.

Perhaps there may be additional questions that come up in the comments. I’ll add them to the bottom of the list… Starting with #10.