Compilation of map segments?

[Damon0521]

Hey all, 

I work for a utility company, and until our GIS is entirely done, we are operating off of map sections of each of our districts. I went through and copied all of these sections into a "Master" for each district to build an entire city map all through our system, but only for my specific uses at the time. The ones in charge of mapping have still been operating off of individual map sections through the last two years since I've built my maps, so when we make changes and updates, mine have not been subject to those. I should have used external references to keep the system updated but hindsight is 20/20. Anyhow, we have a use for this type of map again, and need updated maps for this. Is there an easy way to do this? All of the maps are chronologically numbered, and we do have overall templates on where they all go. I would assume it could be done in lisp, but I'm not great with it, and would probably take longer to write the algorithm than it would just to copy them all over.

I understand this is a bit specific, and not a lot of details are provided, but if someone knows a command or function that may be able to help me get on my way I can tailor it to my needs. Thanks!

[andrew.schroeder]

Hi Damon,

What you want to do is open MAPWSPACE and attach your source drawings (you will need to setup a drive alias first).  Once you have them attached, and assuming they are already georeferenced to some consistent coordinate system, set your current drawing coordinate system to match.  Then, right click on Current Query to open the "Define Query of Attached Drawing(s)" dialog.  Next, setup a property query where "OBJECT TYPE = *"  When you set the query mode to Draw, and then "Execute Query" everything from the attached drawings will be loaded directly into your current drawing.  If you want to change the layers, colours, etc. this is when you would do it using the Alter Properties options.

After you've got everything together, deactivate/detach your source drawings, save and close the file.  Then reopen.  The reason is that the "Save Back" function, will attempt to save back your edits to the source files if you're not careful.

If this answer solves your problem, please mark it as solved for the others, and if you have any other questions, just ask.