Integrating Web Feature Services in AEC Collections

The world is becoming a smaller place every day.  With the advent of shared geographic data in so many different formats and platforms, it is easier now to describe your world than ever before.  Cloud platforms, web services and even data sharing portals have allowed for more open and collaborative sharing of information.

With the release of Autodesk’s 2020 AEC Collections, there is now a built-in tool that allows users to consume ArcGIS Enterprise data within Infraworks, Civil 3D and Map 3D.   The Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS provides an interface to find and consume data published in your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Portal environment.  The interface allows users to search data in a geographic context and then add data sources that meet the search parameters as AEC features inside Civil 3D, Map 3D or Infraworks.

That’s right, features can be consumed as actual Infraworks and Civil 3D objects (gravity pipes, parcels etc.).  This is different than other GIS connections for AutoCAD that can only bring in standard AutoCAD 

features (points and polylines).  Once the web service is selected, data can be added to your Civil 3D session or Infraworks Model and can be used for design and analysis. 

Even if you don’t have access to ArcGIS Enterprise to publish your own data, you can consume data from other open sources.  For example, many municipalities such as the City of Vancouver and City of Surrey have very well-established Open Data portals that serve up ArcGIS Enterprise services as REST API end points.  These REST endpoints can be added to your personal or corporate ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Portal content which can then be consumed using this add-in.  Of course, the big advantage of this is synchrony, i.e. when data is changed, you will see those changes in real or near-real time.

Autodesk’s Connector for ArcGIS was initially released for Infraworks 2020 and is another major step towards integrating BIM and GIS in the Autodesk and ESRI frameworks.  ArcGIS Enterprise data can be added to Infraworks in an intelligent way as pipe networks, parcels, roads etc.

Finally, one of the most significant benefits to this tool is it is relatively easy to set up and maintain, requiring little GIS experience.