You can use ArcGIS Indoors for AutoCAD to detect conditions in CAD data that may cause issues during import to a GIS. After configuring validation settings, you can run the configured validation checks and review any detected issues.
Run checks
To run enabled validation checks, click Check in the Validation group on the Indoors tab.
The AutoCAD command line displays status messages while validation checks are running. To cancel a running validation, press Esc.
Note:
The time it takes to initialize and run the checks depends on the number and complexity of the entities in the CAD data. If the checks are taking a long time, you can work with subsets of the floor plan data. To do so, copy a subset of the floor plan into a new drawing, import the configuration, and run the checks with the new drawing.
After validation completes, the results are drawn on a CAD layer named ArcGIS_Indoors_Marks and are listed in the Validation Results pane.
Review results
The Validation Results pane provides a report of the data issues discovered by the validation checks. Detected issues are reported in a table that contains the entity ID, validation check name, and CAD layer name, as shown in the image above. You can use the Validation Results pane to filter and locate results in the drawing in the following ways:
- Use the Validation check drop-down menu to filter results for a specific check.
- Use the Zoom To button
to zoom to a selected row in the drawing. You can also double-click a row to zoom to the result.
You can change the visibility, color, or other properties of the ArcGIS_Indoors_Marks layer to simplify reviewing results in the drawing. When reviewing a result, you can zoom in and out for more detail or context on the issue identified in the drawing.
After running validation checks for the first time, review the results and look for patterns that indicate a need to adjust the validation settings. For example, if there are Unclosed Shape validation results for every power outlet, you can add the CAD layer with the power outlets to the configuration on the Unit Boundaries tab so the outlets are included when checking unit boundaries. If there are Unit Name Missing validation results marking spaces that are too small to be units, you can adjust the unit boundary tolerances for minimum width and minimum area so those small spaces are not checked.
After adjusting the validation settings, run the checks again to update the results.
Address issues
After you run validation checks on the CAD data you want to import, you can address the detected issues based on the type of issue, the CAD standards to which the drawing must adhere, and available CAD tools.
If there are multiple instances of the same type of issue in the drawing, consider whether the issues can be addressed in bulk by doing any or all of the following:
- Use Find and Replace to correct repeated misspellings or other text issues in annotation text or block attributes.
- Edit the linework of a block to update all instances of that block.
- Use the Drawing Cleanup tools in AutoCAD Map 3D
When addressing issues detected by Indoors for AutoCAD, the following are recommended best practices:
- Address Unclosed Shape check results first. Unclosed shapes can affect the detection of other potential issues in the CAD data.
- Start with the exterior and work inward. Address issues affecting facility entryways first, followed by large circulation spaces such as lobbies and main corridors, then smaller circulation spaces and interior rooms.
- When you address an issue, delete the mark. This removes the row from the validation results table, helping you to focus on the remaining results.
- Run validation checks again after addressing issues to verify that the issues were resolved as expected.
- Leave marks for unaddressed results in the drawing. You may decide not to address certain results because they do not significantly impact the data, or because you must adhere to certain CAD standards. If you leave results in the ArcGIS_Indoors_Marks layer, other specialists can use them to locate potential problems in both AutoCAD and ArcGIS Pro.