Map 3D

Most maps need to convey a lot of information graphically. Even though many concepts such as location, shape, proximity and size are conveyed without text, a thematic or reference map often has hundreds or thousands of objects that need to be identified. One major goal of the cartographer is to accurately label all of these objects, […]

AutoCAD Map 3D, which is sold as a stand-alone application, but is also included with Land Desktop and Civil 3D, allows you to use queries.  Using queries, you can search through one or many drawings and identify, select, isolate, modify and/or copy drawing objects and extract information that would otherwise be extremely tedious and difficult to

TRANSFORM is a command in Map 3D (which is also a component of Land Desktop and Civil 3D), that has been around since the mid-1990s as an ADE (Autodesk Data Extension) tool.  It can be a time saver for editing tasks that require moving, copying and rotating one or more objects to fit other objects. It was originally

One of the many powerful features of AutoCAD Map 3D is Thematic Mapping, which allows you to quickly alter the way AutoCAD objects appear.  For instance, you can use it to display all of the lines on a sewer pipe layer using different colors, representing the size of each pipe. A major benefit of Thematic Mapping is that it does not permanently

3D Polylines can be quite useful, but sometimes you might find them in a map and struggle to use them as 2D boundaries, wishing there was a simple way to convert them to flat polylines. The Drawing Cleanup dialog box in Map 3D and Civil 3D offers a solution.  This tool is available from the Tools tab of the ribbon

Here are a few sources of geospatial data that I have used. If there are any sources not listed that you would like to share, please share them with me and I will add them to this list.  Likewise, please report any broken links below, so I can fix them. GIS Pilot http://www.gispilot.com/ Geo Community GIS Data

When stylizing Feature Data Objects in Map 3D, there is a powerful setting that many users overlook: Scale Ranges. One example of how this setting can benefit you is using it to cause a very detailed set of features, such as a street map or a soils map to only display when that level of detail is useful,

We’ve all been there.  It’s crunch time and you encounter hundreds or maybe thousands of individual line segments that should be continuous polylines.  Perhaps they are contours or tax lots, or maybe street center lines.  The end points are snapped together, but when you try to select them or perform some operation on them, you

In our book “Digging Into AutoCAD Map 3D 2011 – Level 1 Training” we cover the basics of Object Data and External Database Links.  We explain the differences between these two methods of linking data to AutoCAD objects, and what types of data are appropriate for each. At some point, you might wish to do a little more

Autodesk has added the capability to access Geodatabases that were created with ESRI ArcGIS 9 products.  This new FDO Provider utility is available to Map 3D and Civil 3D subscription customers, as part of the Map 3D 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack.  It adds the capability to directly access all three types of Geodatabase files: Personal