AUTOCAD FILE EXTENSION PRO
MicroStation files may contain Bentley coordinate system definitions, but ArcGIS Pro does not currently use that coordinate system information and you must therefore define an Esri coordinate system definition using a PRJ file. prj file must have the same name as the CAD file, but with a. prj file in the same file folder as the CAD file. You can associate an Esri coordinate system to any CAD file, including MicroStation files, by including a valid Esri. prj extension.ĪrcGIS Pro does not recognize the Autodesk coordinate system information of AutoCAD Map 3D or Civil 3D. prj file containing the coordinate system information in the same file folder as the CAD file where the name of the file is the same as the CAD file, but with a. You can associate an Esri coordinate system to any CAD file by including a valid Esri. file created by the Esri ArcGIS for AutoCAD plug-in application, or as a result of the ArcGIS Desktop Export To CAD geoprocessing tool. However, an AutoCAD file may contain coordinate system information in the DWG or DXF. Coordinate system for AutoCAD filesĪn AutoCAD file may contain Autodesk coordinates system definitions from AutoCAD, AutoCAD Map, or Civil 3D, but currently ArcGIS Pro does not recognize these coordinate system definitions. It is recommended that you define a coordinate system for all data added to ArcGIS Pro so that it can be properly positioned. When data is added to a map or scene in ArcGIS Pro with an undefined coordinate system, the coordinates of the data is assumed to be the same coordinate system of the current map or scene's coordinate system, which may or may not be correct. The Esri undefined coordinate system is assumed when no coordinate system definition is detected by ArcGIS Pro for a CAD feature dataset (CAD file).
CAD data coordinate system (PRJ files)īy default, AutoCAD or MicroStation files do not contain Esri coordinate system information to define a coordinate system. CAD drawings drawn in other units, such as inches or milliliters (sometimes used in architectural applications), must be scaled by georeferencing tools to properly position the data. For example, the units in a drawing of the interior space of a building are likely to be in inches or millimeters, whereas a drawing of a survey plat or a landscape plan is likely to be in feet or meters.ĪrcGIS Pro coordinate systems support coordinates in feet or meters. The decision is typically based on the level of detail the drawing is intended to capture. One drawing unit can represent any linear unit of measure, such as inches, millimeters, meters, or feet.
AUTOCAD FILE EXTENSION FULL
They are a matter of the author deciding what the drawing units represent before creating the data.Īs a general rule, all CAD drawings (or models) are drawn at full scale (1:1). Linear units in a CAD file are not dependent on, and they are not defined by, the data's coordinate system.
You can inspect and validate the completeness of a CAD file's coordinate system information using the file properties context menu option available when browsing for CAD files in the catalog pane. The x-axis can be thought of as an easting direction and the y-axis as a northing direction, but they do not necessarily translate to grid directions in your spatial data.Īlthough you can create CAD data that corresponds to the x,y coordinates of a projected grid zone, without a supported means to identify which supported Esri coordinate system was used, the data is unlikely to be positioned correctly. The x-, y-, and z-coordinates are not inherently geographic locations they are locations relative to an arbitrary geometric origin (0,0,0).
MicroStation and AutoCAD use 2D and 3D Cartesian coordinate systems that locate data at fixed coordinates. This is accomplished by defining a supported Esri coordinate system.
To accurately position CAD data or any data in ArcGIS, you need to define the meaning of the coordinates used in the data. CAD coordinates are not inherently geographic locations rather, they are locations relative to a simple geometric origin (0,0,0).