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Esri ArcGIS geodatabase to dwg?


dal-designs

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Hello all,

 

I'm looking for some way to convert ESRI ArcGIS geodatabases and/or shapefiles into CAD linework using vanilla AutoCAD. In my office (petroleum industry), we use utility data, parcel and ROW data, and topo data (especially contour lines) the most, so these categories are the stuff we would be importing into CAD the most.

 

Now, due to how rarely this issue comes up at my workplace, I can tell you that I will never get authorization to buy a Civil 3D or Map 3D license, nor will I ever get authorization to buy any third party conversion software that is more than about $300 (I've been begging for a $300 copy of Manifold for months now to no avail).

 

I had found and downloaded an add-on from somewhere, and although it worked occasionally, it still couldn't handle .gdbs but only the older shapefile format. I also tried ESRI's ArcGIS viewer for ACAD but that seems to only allow viewing- not export or manipulation of data.

 

Does Autodesk or ESRI (or any third-party developers for that matter) offer any affordable add-ons that would allow us to convert shapefiles and or geodatabases into vanilla AutoCAD 2014/15 linework?

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The last version of ESRI I used did have a dxf export if you have ESRI export to dxf.

 

I would kill for a copy of ArcGIS, I really would. But management can't justify the price, especially since (right now) we don't need GIS to CAD conversion all that much.

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QGIS does seem to have an export to DXF tool.

http://www2.qgis.org/en/site/forusers/visualchangelog220/index.html?highlight=shape%20files#feature-dxf-export-tool

 

Might be worth a look since it is free.

 

1+

 

I have Infrastructure Design Suite licensing (primarily use Civil 3D), and _still_ use QGIS - do be mindful though, QGIS does not natively support .GDB file - for that, this link may be of use. :thumbsup:

 

Cheers

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I had QGIS installed on my old box but I don't want to use the space up on my current 256gb hdd. Yeah, I am drive stingy.

 

That's okay; install it on a spare box, or even server, and simply RDP.

 

Another option, if using Win8.1 Pro/Enterprise, is to use Client Hyper-V to consumer a virtual machine with QGIS installed on it, for which the required .VHDx (virtual hard drive) can reside anywhere within the domain, and still be managed/accessed by your workstation. :thumbsup:

 

I was SSD stingy too for a time, and then upgraded to 2 x 250 GB Samasung EVO SSD in RAID 0 (OS), 250 GB SSD (Disaster Recovery [old OS SSD], additional SystemImages on server), and 1 TB Western Digital Velociraptor 10K RPM HDD (Data). :geek:

 

Cheers

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do be mindful though, QGIS does not natively support .GDB file - for that, this link may be of use. :thumbsup:

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Yeah, that is what I'm working on now- figuring out how to bring .gdbs into QGIS (and how QGIS works in general, as I've never touched it before now as Esri veteran, myself).

 

QGIS seems to be a viable alternative for us at this point, though

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