[GIS] Exporting shapefile from ArcGIS Desktop into Autodesk Ecotect

3darcgis-10.0arcgis-desktopautocadexport

I am trying to export a shapefile from ArcGIS 10 into Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011 for solar analysis. I have a shapefile with polygons, and the heights of buildings is stored in the attribute table. I tried saving it as a KML file but Ecotect does not import KML files. Instead, Ecotect would accept any DXF or 3D files (such as 3D Metafile and 3D Studio).

Is there a way of saving 3D files from GIS other than KML?

I tried importing KML into Sketchup and Autocad without success.

Any other idea for exporting shapefiles into a software that can extrude them and save as 3D would help too!

Best Answer

In ArcGIS 10...
right click on the shapefile in the TOC (table of contents),
Choose Data>
Export to CAD.

If you have map3d it will import 3d shapefiles and then you have extensive 3d capability in autocad (same as map3d).

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The shapefile format does not support true curves (one of many references here). If you want to preserve a true curve, you must store it in a different format, such as a feature class in a geodatabase.

[GIS] Reducing size of KML file (after converting from Shapefile)

Having come across the same problem, I have develop a rudimentary workaround, which is pretty quick and dirty. It almost halves the KML size but with a cost, it removes of all HTML popups and symbology/style specifications. It is good for pure viewing purposes.

I usually prefer using Generalize tool (requires at least Editor licence) to test various options until I am satisfied with the shapes that I want to process. Usually a value in between 0.5 and 0.8 meters gives me a decent outcome. A warning, the Generalize tool modifies the input data, so the best practice is to take a copy of it beforehand.

After reading the suggestions and doing some research, I have decided to develop a pretty rough python script for KML stripping process by using regular expression (intentionally avoiding XML parsing process). The code is as follows:

import re,os

kml_loc=r"C:\Temp\doc.kml"
f=open(kml_loc)
lines=f.readlines()
f.close()

all_text_0=''.join(lines)
all_text_0=' '.join(all_text_0.split())
# Remove HTML popup and shape styles
all_text_1=re.sub('<description>.*?</description>','<description></description>',all_text_0)
all_text_1=re.sub('<styleUrl>.*?</styleUrl>','',all_text_1)
all_text_2=all_text_1

# Round the coordinates to desired resolution
decimal_places_of_xy_resolution=6
for i in re.findall('<coordinates>(.*?)</coordinates>',all_text_1):
    fixed_part=' '.join([','.join(['{0:.{1}f}'.format(float(c), 
               [decimal_places_of_xy_resolution,0][c=='0']) for c in b.split(',') if c])  
               for b in i.split(' ') if b])
    all_text_2=re.sub(i,fixed_part,all_text_2,1)

# Write bew KML with a new name
new_kml=list(os.path.splitext(kml_loc))
new_kml[0]+='_REDUCTED'
f=open(''.join(new_kml),'wb')
f.write(all_text_2)
f.close()

Best Answer

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[GIS] How to preserve arc linetype when exporting from .dwg to ArcGIS for Desktop

[GIS] Reducing size of KML file (after converting from Shapefile)

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