Exporting Arc labels to AutoCAD

[infoscrounger]

Hello everyone,

 

I am attempting to export labels from ArcMap 9.3 into an older version of AutoCAD DeskMap (use R14 format). I am able to export polyline, point, and polygon data as a .dwg or a .dxf file and it comes into AutoCAD just fine (properly georeferenced). However, although I am able to pull up labels in Arc itself (say for example the township and range labels on a grid of Alberta), I am unable to export them to AutoCAD. I create a point feature class from my initial layer (and do the appropriate attribute table modifications to get the text to show up), those labels show up just fine in Arc, but then when I attempt to export them, either with the Quick Export tool or the Export to CAD tool either a) only the points show up (correctly georeferenced with no labels) or b) the labels and points show up but are centered around 0,0 instead of where I want them to be. In case b, the text and points are tiny and compressed (the entire grid of township and range divides for Alberta compresses down to something like 13 meters).

 

Is anyone familiar with this process? If so, do you use any add-ons or is this something that you can do directly from Arc itself?

 

Apparently the xy coordinates of the text are coming in wonky. We utilize UTM for our coordinate system (again, the polylines, points and polygons export to this just fine), but for some reason when we create the text feature class (with the associated points) it takes the lat/long coordinates and tries to turn them into UTM, so we're getting coordinates like -113.2376, 55.36101. Maybe I'm not selecting the right column to export?

 

Thank you in advance for your help

[Murph_map]

Hello everyone,

 

I am attempting to export labels from ArcMap 9.3 into an older version of AutoCAD DeskMap (use R14 format).............

Thank you in advance for your help

 

AutoCAD Deskmap ?

Maybe Autodesk MAP (what it was called before the name change to AutoCAD MAP3D)

 

If it is Autodesk MAP then try using the E$RI shp format files and importing those with Object Data.

[infoscrounger]

Hi Murph_map, thank you for your response.

 

It's Autodesk Map 6, and I also have AutoCAD Land Development available. I use the R14 format to export .dwg and .dxf files from Arc to AutoCAD.

 

For the Object Data you're talking about when you go Map -> Tools -> Import... then the table comes up allowing you to select what layer the shape goes into, and if you want to represent it with a reference point or block shape? I can try that, but ultimately that's not a good option for me. If I go that route, I'm going to have to export each and every single layer that I want as its own shapefile, then manually reference each one to its respective table. That's going to be an incredibly time-consuming process.

 

To give you more information, I work for a seismic mapping company, and we access the IHS data servers to pull down pertinent information for Alberta and Saskatchewan. To cover all of the data we need, there are a couple HUNDRED different features that we access. If I have to do that process for EVERY layer with a label I need... oh man... thank Jebus I'm paid by the hour, haha.

 

Is there not a way to say represent those labels as text in a .dwg or .dxf, so I can bring in multiple features all at once instead of one at a time?

 

Thanks again for your help

[Murph_map]

AutoCAD Map Object Data is like the attributes with E$RI ArcGIS, links data to the geometry. With 2002 (Map6) you need to create the OD table manually first in the dwg that you import a shp file into. Then on the import you can tell it to populate that OD table with the attributes from the shp file. This way you do not need to export from ArcGIS to DXF or DWG (that looses all the data) when you do. When you create the OD table it has to match letter by LETTER (uppercase/lowercase) for it to work.

see if this is the same as Map6 and works for you on the map import. http://forums.autodesk.com/autodesk/attachments/autodesk/66/19634/1/Import%20Map%20Data.pdf

Once you have the table and import the shp file(s) you should see the data/attributes by using _adeeditdata at the command line and selecting a point you imported. (annotations/labels will be points in AutoCAD).

Once you have the points and data there's a few ways to get text from the OD tables.

http://www.cadtutor.net/forum/showthread.php?30502-Annotate-label-polylines-with-their-object-data

This may be of some help also. http://map3d.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/contours-from-shape-files-with-elevations/ on how to get the labels you want just forget the elevation stuff, the theory is the same.

[infoscrounger]

Thanks again, I'll give that a try.

 

I'm still limited to exporting individual files though, and having to manually attach that table to the shapes... this may turn out to be incredibly awkward if I have to repeat this process 100 times for every map I make, haha.

[Murph_map]

If its the same data but diffent labels, just create the OD Table in the dwt (template file) you use.

Another option is upgrade to something that uses FDO and make a direct connection to the ArcGIS data in is native format.

[infoscrounger]

I actually found a faster way of doing it. In short:

 

Access your server data.

Clip it to the boundary you want.

Use the Distributed Geodatabase Wizard - Exract Data tool to make your own personal geodatabase (thus actually containing the information, not just referncing it on a website)

Play with your label properties of each pertinent layer until it's the way you want it.

Right click on the feature again and select Label Features

Then Convert Labels to Annotation

Open ArcCatalogue and search to the personal database you made earlier

Right click on it, select Export to CAD and set up for the correct CAD format

Open that .dwg in a program such as Global Mapper

Change the projection to appropriate

Export as a .dxf

Open in AutoCAD and voila. Just need to tweak the text style and you're in business

 

Thank you very much for your advice though.