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GeoInformatics-7-2009
article b r i d g i n g mind the gap t h e g r e a t c a d / g i s d i v i d e there exists a real cultural divide between cad and gis. not only that: when autodesk recently held a workshop for local government professionals, over 50% cited the gulf between cad and gis as one of the major issues in their working lives. however, there are signs that this situation is improving, leading to faster completion of projects and no more duplication of time, money and effort. this article has been written under the authority of wisse communications and updated by henny van der pol cad files, a cad user has to export cad data in a dfx-file. in this way, there s always an agent needed to convert the data for you. by saving the data in a central database (for instance, autocad map), this agent can be eliminated so that both parties have access to esri-data. in today s harsh business environment, it s too expensive to manage multiple types of software, convert data, sychronise systems and keep design and operations disconnected. but there s also a real cultural divide beteen the two. when asked what she would like to see to help her job improve, one gis officer simply said: different departments talking to one another ! however, there are signs that this situation is improving. when pushed, cad and gis departments both said they positively hoped for a solution that was joined up and open to all. the need for a totally current even real-time information was also high on the wish-list. for several years now autodesk has recognised that the key to solving these dilemmas is to develop software that bridges cad and gis but which doesn t entail either to give up the tools they have been using for years. gis and mapping functionality must be brought into the precision data capture, creation and maintenance tools offered by a cad environment. and gis must be able to access and work with object-based design information stored in cad drawing fields such as dgn and dwg without losing precision. autocad map 3d, for example, brings cad and gis together by providing direct access to data, regardless of how it is stored. an extension to autocad and complementing existing gis implementations, it enables quick access, efficient editing and easy management of a broad variety of large geospatial sets, far beyond what standard autocad could handle. autocad map 3d screenshot driven by the ever-growing use of the internet and the greater need for more precise and sophisticated information for better informed planning, everybody it seems, now wants to add a geographic element to their data. however, this need is complicated by two factors. first for geospatial data to provide real value, it needs to be used alongside other information in particular, cad data. but unfortunately, these two disciplines have evolved separately and are, traditionally, very difficult to blend. second is the withdrawal of land-line (which has been used by local government and other organisations for over 10 years) by the ordnance survey. its replacement, os mastermap topography layer, offers many enhanced features and benefits including themed information. however, the change brings a number of challenges, especially the accessibility of topography layer data from within autocad, the industry standard automated drafting tool. cultural divide when autodesk recently held a workshop for local government professionals, over 50% cited the gulf between cad and gis as one of the major issues in their working lives. the following two examples explain the situation: when a cad user wants to dispose gis data, one has no other choice than referring to a gis specialist inside the organization or network that gis user has to create a shapefile. this takes an amount of time, since one has to discuss which attributes this shapefile has to contain, etc. the opposite is also true: if a gis user wants access to autocad map 3d screenshot 14 october/november 2009
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