Polyline unique ID (GIS/AutoCAD question)

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I have a question about polylines and am wondering if anyone else out there
may have some insight on this.

We are a planning firm that specializes in facility use survey drawings.
Basically we create a drawing based on an as-built, place roompolys (closed
polylines) in every room and insert a block (roomtag) filled with attributes
into each room. This roomtag contains room numbers, room descriptions
etc...

Once the drawing is complete, it is then linked to ArcView 3.2 or ArcGIS 8.1
and a table is built from the information obtained from the roomtag
blocks... blah blah blah. This process works well except on the occasion
when a roomtag is too large to fit into a particular room and has to be
leadered to the room in the cad drawing. The GIS software no longer knows
which roomtag belongs to which roompoly because it is not located inside of
the closed polyline and there is no way to link the closed polyline to the
block (to my knowledge) without turning both into a block.

What I am wondering is this... is there anyway within vanilla AutoCAD to
apply a "unique ID" to a closed polyline that will show up in an
ArcView/ArcGIS table that is not a block or part of the roomtag block. I
tried using Xdata, but this does not come through to the table. The handle
would be another excellent option, but it does not appear to come through
into the GIS table either.

Has anyone out there ever needed this functionality between CAD and GIS
software? I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

TIA,

Rob

[Anonymous]

I can't think of an easy way to do this with vanilla AutoCAD. You can use
AutoCAD map to link the polylines to a data table based on enclosed blocks
with attributes. You can then export the polylines to a polygon SHP file
and export the database links along with it.

Regards,
David Collins
www.cadmasters.com

"Rob Outman" wrote in message
news:9E2A488DA3FC3758CF779241F0F3BEB9@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a question about polylines and am wondering if anyone else out
there
> may have some insight on this.
>
> We are a planning firm that specializes in facility use survey drawings.
> Basically we create a drawing based on an as-built, place roompolys
(closed
> polylines) in every room and insert a block (roomtag) filled with
attributes
> into each room. This roomtag contains room numbers, room descriptions
> etc...
>
> Once the drawing is complete, it is then linked to ArcView 3.2 or ArcGIS
8.1
> and a table is built from the information obtained from the roomtag
> blocks... blah blah blah. This process works well except on the occasion
> when a roomtag is too large to fit into a particular room and has to be
> leadered to the room in the cad drawing. The GIS software no longer knows
> which roomtag belongs to which roompoly because it is not located inside
of
> the closed polyline and there is no way to link the closed polyline to the
> block (to my knowledge) without turning both into a block.
>
> What I am wondering is this... is there anyway within vanilla AutoCAD to
> apply a "unique ID" to a closed polyline that will show up in an
> ArcView/ArcGIS table that is not a block or part of the roomtag block. I
> tried using Xdata, but this does not come through to the table. The
handle
> would be another excellent option, but it does not appear to come through
> into the GIS table either.
>
> Has anyone out there ever needed this functionality between CAD and GIS
> software? I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
>
> TIA,
>
> Rob
>
>

[Anonymous]

Hi David,

Thanx for the input. Unfortunately we are trying to retain all drawing
content without having to create any shapefiles (our drawings change
constantly). Basically we are using the CAD Reader extension to open the
drawings in ArcView and then get the table info for each attributed block.
We then want to apply the attributed info to the "associated" polyline, but
without code or a shapefile, this has to be done manually. I simply wish
Xdata would come across and it would be cake!

Thanx again for the help,

Rob

"David Collins" wrote in message
news:25F08345C692F567D5BC918470CC3DF2@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> I can't think of an easy way to do this with vanilla AutoCAD. You can use
> AutoCAD map to link the polylines to a data table based on enclosed blocks
> with attributes. You can then export the polylines to a polygon SHP file
> and export the database links along with it.
>
> Regards,
> David Collins
> www.cadmasters.com
>
> "Rob Outman" wrote in message
> news:9E2A488DA3FC3758CF779241F0F3BEB9@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I have a question about polylines and am wondering if anyone else out
> there
> > may have some insight on this.
> >
> > We are a planning firm that specializes in facility use survey drawings.
> > Basically we create a drawing based on an as-built, place roompolys
> (closed
> > polylines) in every room and insert a block (roomtag) filled with
> attributes
> > into each room. This roomtag contains room numbers, room descriptions
> > etc...
> >
> > Once the drawing is complete, it is then linked to ArcView 3.2 or ArcGIS
> 8.1
> > and a table is built from the information obtained from the roomtag
> > blocks... blah blah blah. This process works well except on the occasion
> > when a roomtag is too large to fit into a particular room and has to be
> > leadered to the room in the cad drawing. The GIS software no longer
knows
> > which roomtag belongs to which roompoly because it is not located inside
> of
> > the closed polyline and there is no way to link the closed polyline to
the
> > block (to my knowledge) without turning both into a block.
> >
> > What I am wondering is this... is there anyway within vanilla AutoCAD to
> > apply a "unique ID" to a closed polyline that will show up in an
> > ArcView/ArcGIS table that is not a block or part of the roomtag block.
I
> > tried using Xdata, but this does not come through to the table. The
> handle
> > would be another excellent option, but it does not appear to come
through
> > into the GIS table either.
> >
> > Has anyone out there ever needed this functionality between CAD and GIS
> > software? I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > Rob
> >
> >
>
>

[Anonymous]

Rob

Unfortunately the handle stays unique only in the current drawing session,
a good test of this is just to find the handle of a pline then insert that
same line into another drawing. You will notice that the handle has
changed!

The best bet would be either some Xdata and find a way to export it?

If not either make the tag smaller or make the attributes invisible, that
way the room tag is invisible on the screen but still is there for the
purposes of linking? You might also make two tags if you need to see the
tag on screen, make one visible that can be leadered to another area and
make one invisible that stays at the centroid of the polygon, that way the
visible one can be moved anywhere without affecting the original. These can
be linked with software or just make your block with two parts, the
insertion point stays in the polygon but the visible attribute part can be
moved as needed (in 2002). Not sure what you are looking for, if you send
me a more detailed description of what you are looking for maybe I can look
into it further?

Unfortunatly I never export to Arcview but just use acad Map for GIS
functionallity, the rambling above are just me thinking out loud!

HTH

Shawn
(remove spam from address to reply)


"Rob Outman" wrote in message
news:9E2A488DA3FC3758CF779241F0F3BEB9@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Hi All,
>
> I have a question about polylines and am wondering if anyone else out
there
> may have some insight on this.
>
> We are a planning firm that specializes in facility use survey drawings.
> Basically we create a drawing based on an as-built, place roompolys
(closed
> polylines) in every room and insert a block (roomtag) filled with
attributes
> into each room. This roomtag contains room numbers, room descriptions
> etc...
>
> Once the drawing is complete, it is then linked to ArcView 3.2 or ArcGIS
8.1
> and a table is built from the information obtained from the roomtag
> blocks... blah blah blah. This process works well except on the occasion
> when a roomtag is too large to fit into a particular room and has to be
> leadered to the room in the cad drawing. The GIS software no longer knows
> which roomtag belongs to which roompoly because it is not located inside
of
> the closed polyline and there is no way to link the closed polyline to the
> block (to my knowledge) without turning both into a block.
>
> What I am wondering is this... is there anyway within vanilla AutoCAD to
> apply a "unique ID" to a closed polyline that will show up in an
> ArcView/ArcGIS table that is not a block or part of the roomtag block. I
> tried using Xdata, but this does not come through to the table. The
handle
> would be another excellent option, but it does not appear to come through
> into the GIS table either.
>
> Has anyone out there ever needed this functionality between CAD and GIS
> software? I would appreciate any and all suggestions.
>
> TIA,
>
> Rob
>
>