Solutions for AutoCAD Map 3D users

FME's spatial ETL platform has long enabled Autodesk AutoCAD Map 3D users to extend the format capability of Autodesk applications. Simply running FME in conjunction with AutoCAD Map 3D allows you to import or publish dozens of additional formats, including AutoCAD DWG/DXF/DWF, MapGuide SDF and SDF3, MapGuide SDL, VISION GINA and VISION NATIVE.

For direct data access, Map 3D users have two options available:

1. Free FME FDO Provider
For direct read access to 9 popular data formats

2. FME Desktop (includes the FME FDO Provider)
For access to 200+ CAD, GIS, raster and database formats, flexible data transformation using an intuitive graphical interface, and new in FME 2008, the ability to read and write Map 3D object data

Free FME FDO Provider

An alternative to the data import feature in Map 3D, the free FME FDO Provider tool integrates with the Data Connect dialog in Map 3D 2008 to enable faster and easier connectivity to nine key spatial data formats, including ESRI ArcInfo Export (E00), Geography Markup Language (GML), and MapInfo TAB/MIF/MID. With just a few clicks, you can conveniently read data directly, without having to copy the data sets. When the data changes, your drawings will automatically reflect the most recent information.

Download the FME FDO Provider.

FME Desktop

FME Desktop is a flexible and powerful spatial ETL toolset that makes it easy for you to translate, transform and integrate spatial data from/to over 200 CAD, GIS, raster and database formats. With FME 2008, Safe Software builds on our tradition of adding value to Autodesk products by including the FME FDO Provider and introducing the long-awaited supprot for reading and writing Map 3D object data.

FME Desktop offers significant value for AutoCAD Map 3D 2007 and 2008 users by providing:

Flexible access to over 200 formats, including Map 3D object data reading and writing
Unrivalled spatial data transformation capability
Substantial productivity gains through FME's Custom Format feature

Flexible access to over 200 formats

When FME and AutoCAD Map 3D are installed on the same computer, Map 3D users can take advantage of both the traditional import and export capability, as well as the new FME FDO Provider to directly read data in over 200 GIS, CAD, raster and database formats. These include: ESRI ArcSDE, Geodatabase, GeoMedia Access Warehouse, Google Earth KML, MapInfo MID/MIF, TAB, Microstation Design V8, GML, and TIGER/Line. New in FME 2008, Map 3D users can also read and write object data.

View a complete list of supported formats in FME Desktop

Read an article that highlights FME's new object data reading and writing support (Pg 5)

Unrivalled spatial data transformation capability

AutoCAD Map 3D users can harness the full power of FME Desktop's intuitive Workbench to perform sophisticated transformations on their spatial data. FME Workbench is a graphical spatial ETL authoring environment that makes it easy for you to restructure data. Data is transformed as it is read from an FME format and before it is displayed within the application, eliminating the need for data sets to first be translated into DWG or SDF3. Instead, a transformed version of the original data can be viewed directly in Map 3D or MapGuide.

With the data transformation power provided by FME Desktop, Autodesk users can:

combine data sources
test data quality
rename attributes and calculate new attributes
join attributes from a database to feature geometry
restructure geometry from disconnected point or line-work into closed polygons

Creating a spatial data transformation workflow is as simple as choosing individual "transformers" from a gallery of over 300, then linking the selected transformers together on the Workbench canvas. Each transformer performs a single operation on data; linking these transformers together in different combinations creates hundreds of transformation possibilities.

View a complete list of data transformations available in FME

Substantial productivity gains with FME's custom format feature

FME Desktop's Custom Format feature can save Autodesk users hours of time by automating data preparation tasks. You can use it to automatically transform data into the required structure and schema as it is read into Map 3D (either through the File>Import menu or the Safe FDO Provider for FME). No intermediate file translation is required.