ESRI has announced the availability of ArcGIS for AutoCAD, a free AutoCAD application that allows CAD users to visualise and query Geographic Information System (GIS) data within the CAD environment without conversion. ArcGIS for AutoCAD accesses dynamic geo-referenced ArcGIS Server map services and displays them in the AutoCAD drafting environment.
"For the first time, CAD users will have a simple way to connect to GIS enterprise data," says Don Kuehne, ESRI Product Manager. "These users will benefit from the results of GIS analysis through geo-referenced cartographic products inside AutoCAD's editing environment for context and reference without the complexities of conversion and translation."
The map service metadata is accessible in the standard AutoCAD Properties window and the map feature attributes can be viewed via the IDENTIFY tool. All vector, raster, and imagery formats that ArcGIS Server supports can be viewed in the CAD environment.
