map over acad in fm

[Anonymous]

Info from a guy named Bruce Johnson when I was trying to decide on whether I should go ahead and upgrade to MAP even though I didn't know how to use it. General drafting in Map IS autocad... it uses the autocad engine as a base for the other features of map, which all fit into one pull-down menu. Where does map outperform autocad? You can establish real world coordinate systems in map where your working area is very close to the 0,0,0 x,y,z origin point. So when you do a zoom all command, you don't get a little tiny spec of a drawing out in space that is hard to find. There are mapping tools like drawing cleanups. In the event you scan images, sometimes when you vectorize them, there are undershoots and overshoots of linework. Map can clean them up to the actual intersections with an automated tool. You can create map sets or map books. Set up the entire campus on a grid system, then cut the drawings based on whatever quad or grid coordinate you want, and plot each one in succession based on your page numbering system, as well as making match lines for each. You can also seperate a large drawing into these grids as individual dwg files by cutting all objects with the grid lines you establish... like a super break command. You can save to DGN files for microstation users, SHP files for ESRI folks, and also Map Info files... forget the extension on that... probably .mif You can also import all of these file types Queries are very helpful... you can attach any autocad file to the current session, and ask the database to extract just the layers, linetypes, text, etc that you want and show it in the current drawing as entities (not xrefs) and if you change something, will give you the option to save back to the source file(s). So you could query across all your facilities plans and just show walls,doors, and windows, even if each drawing has 100 layers, and get it all in a current work session. You can also do topologies... linking information to closed polylines that will be used for visual reporting or color coded maps. If the database is complete enough, you could literally tell the program to show the 6th floor of a certain building that has air diffusers in rooms that are more than 50 years old, and make those rooms that qualify color themselves red, and the ones that are newer would be green... stuff like that. It has some tools to work with Aerial photos and insert them correctly. (although raster Design is a better tool for that.) Database linking is the primary tool... you can attach Access, SQL and Oracle to Autocad Map entities and files. Any simple object like linework can be attached to a database record as a link. So if attribute data on the object changes, like a replacement of the item, you can go into the database and make the changes to the object's properties without opening autocad. Visually seeing the object might be easier than locating it in a database search, and when that occurs, you can link direct to the database from Autocad, fire up the engine to edit the record, and the cad tech. can make the change based on new information or as-built data. That is most of it. -- Melanie Stone (Wanderer) Facilities Management - Map 3D 2005 Win XP Pro SP2 AUGI - Survey Manager Gateway AUG - Treasurer ICC - Director of Communications Media

[Anonymous]

Which version of Map are you referring to - Map 5 does not seem to have these import options

[Anonymous]

Apologies for previous post - options are there after all. Do you know if this is limited to particular versions of DGNs?

[Anonymous]

I am using MAP 3D 2005... here is a what the help files have to say about dgn's Autodesk Map supports MicroStation version 8 and 7 files. Bentley Systems, Inc. and MicroStation programs use the DGN format, which is similar to a DWG file; there can be points, lines, areas, text, and other object types present in the same file. All geometry in MicroStation is stored using a 9 digit integer. Due to this design, it is important to understand that it is possible to lose precision if you export drawing data with large coordinate values. The MicroStation seed file used for export will have a dramatic effect on the resulting DGN data. For specific information on MicroStation DGN format, read the sections below. For general information on using the Import or Export commands, see Overview of Importing and Overview of Exporting. Importing Data-element information is stored in an external database file and linked to graphic objects. Autodesk Map imports database link information so you can maintain the linkage during import. By default, object colors are imported to their closest ACI (AutoCAD Color Index) color. If you want to import object colors using RGB (True Color), you must edit the mapimport.ini file. For more information, see Customizing the .ini File. Note If Autodesk Map detects that the DGN file being imported is empty (i.e., contains no objects), an error message is displayed. Driver Options You can set the following options when importing DGN files: Option Description Group Elements By Choose how you want to group the incoming elements. Select Geometry to group objects by entity type. All objects of the same type will be imported to the same layer in the Autodesk Map drawing. Select Level to group objects by the DGN level. All objects in the same level will be imported to the same layer in the Autodesk Map drawing. Select Schema to group objects by schema. Tags Select the Display check box to display DGN tags (user-defined attributes attached to elements in the DGN file). Expand Cells This option is overwritten by the CELLS=BLOCKS setting in the mapimport.ini file. Edit mapimport.ini to change the setting. Linkage Extraction Allows you to extract MSLinks and FRAMME attribute linkage values from the DGN file. If you select MSLinks, Autodesk Map imports up to three links per object. For each link, two fields are added to the object data table: mslinks_n, which specifies the key value, and entity_num_n, which specifies the table. If you select FRAMME, the following fields are added to the object data table: comp_count, comp_num, dgnfile, feat_num, state_num, and ufid. Coordinate Units Each DGN file defines a UOR (unit of resolution); in addition, it can have definitions for Sub units and Master units. Select Master, Sub, or UOR to specify which of these units in the DGN file matches the default unit in the Autodesk Map drawing. For example, if the default unit in your Autodesk Map drawing is meters, and meters are the Sub unit in the imported file, select Sub. If you select Sub or Master, the UORs in the DGN file are converted to Sub or Master units according to the conversion factor in the DGN file header. If you select UOR, the UORs in the DGN file are imported directly with no conversion. The default unit is Sub. Complex Strings Select Drop if you want each component of a complex chain to be returned as its own feature and no feature will be returned for the complex chain as a whole. Otherwise all elements of the complex chain will be merged into a single linear feature, any arcs in the complex chain will be converted into linestrings and any linkages on the component elements themselves will be lost. Select Propagate Member Linkages if you want the linkages attached to the first component of the complex chain to be returned on the feature, supplementing any existing linkages. Otherwise any linkages on the component elements themselves will be lost and only those linkages attached to the complex chain itself will be returned. Text Select the Split Multi Text check box or clear it. Note If you do not want to change options in the dialog box, click Cancel to close the dialog box. Clicking OK can change the settings. Other Import Options You can set a number of options in the MapForeignFileProperties.ini file. Exporting Every DGN file requires a seed file to give it default information (similar to the acad.dwg prototype or template file). The seed file controls working units, global origin, the version you want to export, etc. Several seed files ship with Autodesk Map. The default file, lrgseed.dgn, is a three-dimensional seed file for a version 7 DGN file. If you want to export to a two dimensional DGN file, you must change to a two dimensional seed file. Likewise, if you want a specific global origin or specific working units, reference the file name of the desired seed file. The global origin and units of resolution should be set in a seed file that is appropriate to your Autodesk Map drawing coordinates. To export a version 8 DGN file, you must change to a version 8 seed file, for example, C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\GIS\ImportExport\3.0\design\seed3d_ft_v8.dgn. The seed file you use significantly affects the outcome of the export process. If the design plane coordinate bounds in the seed file do not fully contain the extents of the Autodesk Map drawing, Autodesk Map will not export objects. In this case, use a seed file that works for your region and coordinate system. As a last resort, select the driver option Compute Optimal Seed File Parameters. To change the seed file for a single file 1.. In the Export dialog box, click the Options tab. 2.. Click the Driver Options button. 3.. In the Design File Output Settings dialog box, under Seed File, click the [...] button. 4.. In the Select Seed File dialog box, navigate to the location of the seed file you want to use, select the file, and then click Open. Note If you are a limited rights user, be sure that the seed file is in a location where you have access to it. To change the default seed file 1.. Open the mapexport.ini file using a text editor such as WordPad. This file is in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Autodesk Map 3D 2005\R16.1 folder. 2.. Find the [IGDS] section. This is where the default seed file is specified. 3.. Change the default seed file to the seed file you want. For example: Driver:RUNTIME_MACROS=_SEED,"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\GIS\ImportExport\3.0\design\seed3d_ft.dgn". 4.. Save and close the .ini file. Additional Notes Closed objects are not filled, even if they were filled originally. Hatch patterns are not exported. If you export polygon data that is hatched in Autodesk Map, the resulting data will not be filled in MicroStation. Driver Options You can set the following options when exporting DGN files: Option Description Coordinate Units Select the coordinate units of the features: Master, Sub, or UOR. Select the unit that matches the default unit in your Autodesk Map drawing. For example, if the default unit in your Autodesk Map drawing is meters, and you are using a seed file that defines meters as the Master unit, then select Master. The default is the Sub unit. Two Point Line Output Select Type 3 Elements or Type 4 Elements. Allow Area Fills Controls whether or not fill linkages will be written out for ellipses, shapes, and solids. Select Yes or No. Seed File Select the seed file, which controls whether or not the output DGN file is two-dimensional or three-dimensional, sets the coordinate units, sets global origin, etc. Compute Optimal Seed File Parameters Select this option to override all seed file settings and have Autodesk Map calculate the settings for you. Autodesk Map determines the largest dimension for the set of exported objects and sets the appropriate range and precision. It sets the UOR per Sub to 10, and sets the Global Origin to the center of the bounding rectangle of the exported objects. Override Global Origin Select this option to override the global origin setting in the seed file. Then specify the global origin you want to use. Override Units Select this option to override the units setting in the seed file. Then specify the units setting you want to use. Cell Library File You can optionally select a file to use as the cell library, which contains definitions of symbols that can be placed in the output DGN file. Note If you do not want to change options in the dialog box, click Cancel to close the dialog box. Clicking OK can change the settings. "Frazer Andrews" wrote in message news:28539560.1109167596157.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > Apologies for previous post - options are there after all. Do you know if > this is limited to particular versions of DGNs?