You can import a coordinate system from other CAD datasets or from ArcGIS formats such as shapefiles, rasters, or geodatabase feature classes. Browse to the file and select it, then click Add. To import a coordinate system, click the Add Coordinate System drop-down menu from the menu bar and click Import.

To select an existing coordinate system, click the coordinate system in the list box and click Ok. In the CAD Feature Dataset Properties dialog box, click the General tab and click the Edit button. To open the Spatial Reference Properties dialog box, right-click the CAD dataset in a Catalog window and click Properties. For all other formats and versions it creates an auxiliary projection (.prj) file. If the CAD dataset is an AutoCAD drawing version 2007 or higher, it embeds the spatial reference in the source file. This method stores the coordinate system differently depending on the file format and format version. The CAD Feature Dataset Properties dialog boxĭefining a spatial reference with the CAD Feature Dataset Properties dialog box is performed in a Catalog window.

Use the Define Projection geoprocessing tool.īoth methods open the Spatial Reference Properties dialog box and provide a list of predefined coordinate systems and a menu bar with tools to import and clear the spatial reference.

Use the CAD Feature Dataset Properties dialog box.

You can define a spatial reference for CAD datasets in the following two ways:

The CAD Feature Dataset Properties dialog box.

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