Question

What are the supported Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D versions and what geometries are supported?

Answer

Description

The Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D Reader allows FME to read Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D format datasets.

Supported Versions

At the time of writing (9th March 2010) FME is currently limited to reading Civil 3D DWG files created  by Civil 3D 2009 or earlier software. This is due to the 3rd party library for the newer versions of this format being unavailable.  

Here is a list of the different forms of Civil 3D data files, and what can be done with them.
  • Files created in Civil 3D 2009 or earlier civil 3D applications can be read by FME.
  • Files created with Civil 3D 2010 or higher cannot be read directly.
  • Data exported from Civil 3D 2010 or 2011 into Civil 3D 2009 files are not readable. The conversion process changes the Civil entities into proxy data.
  • Data can be exported from Civil 3D 2010 or higher to LandXML, then imported using Civil 3D 2009. From there the Civil 3D 2009 can save a Civil 3D 2009 DWG file which FME can read.
  • Civil3D entities in Civil 3D 2010 or higher can be exported to SDF so you can use the SDF reader in FME to read them (regular DWG entities can be read with the ACAD reader).
The recommendation is to ensure that the Civil 3D data that to be worked with is of a version that is native to the application which created it. Otherwise, data may appear to be in the correct version, but in fact it may have undergone a conversion process which has removed some desired data.

Supported Geometries

At the time of writing (17th March 2010) FME has some limitations on the geometry types it can read.
  •   Categories of Information
    • supported:
      • Civil 3D data (some, see below)
      • Civil 3D data relationships (some, limited to ID references)
    • unsupported:
      • Civil 3D project
      • Civil 3D settings
  • Categories of Data
    • supported:
      • Objects (some, see below)
    • unsupported:
      • Labels
      • Styles
  • Categories of Objects
    • supported:
      • Parcels
      • Pipes
      • Pipe networks
      • Point groups
      • Points
      • Structures
    • unsupported:
      • Assemblies
      • Corridors
      • Feature lines
      • Gradings
      • Mass haul views
      • Match lines
      • Profile views
      • Profiles
      • Sample lines
      • Sections
      • Section views
      • Subassemblies
      • Surfaces
      • Survey figures
      • Survey networks
      • View frames