Industry Specific GIS Data Models in AutoCAD

My mature Valencia orange tree is full of fruit, and it will have ripe fruit from April thru August, which means as much fresh orange juice as I want to squeeze and drink from the single tree. My lemon tree is still small, but it usually has at least one ripe lemon on it every month of the year. I planted a baby avocado tree two years ago, still no fruit…

I reap the fruit of the previous owner’s planting and care of my orange tree. The lemon tree I planted is starting to produce, and the avocado tree is an investment in the future for me.

One free benefit of ArcGIS for AutoCAD that I can start working with right away is accessing ArcGIS map services in AutoCAD with ArcGIS for AutoCAD. As a GIS administrator I can immediately connect the AutoCAD professionals in other departments, and AutoCAD-based contractors outside my organization by looking at the common and direct view of the enterprise GIS basemap through a map service.

Another benefit that is growing in importance is the ability for these same AutoCAD users to create GIS-ready data with the tools in ArcGIS for AutoCAD that build content according to the mapping specification for drawings.

I can use industry specific GIS data models defined by various industry experts for GIS in AutoCAD too! Within ArcGIS I simply export a sample geodatabase like the Water Model available on ESRI.com to an AutoCAD file using the ArcGIS EXPORT TO CAD tool available with ArcView, and presto I have the water model industry schema designed for use in GIS within AutoCAD according to the mapping specification for drawings! Used as an AutoCAD template file, blank versions of the schema can be passed along to others to fill up with water-model content, I know that when the CAD data is brought back into ArcGIS it will be readily usable.

Time to pick some more oranges.