Create a document feature layer

A document feature layer is a named selection set of AutoCAD objects that share a common set of properties. You can create and configure them to display a particular subset of content as an ArcGIS-ready feature class that is recognized by ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Desktop. There are multiple ways to create a document feature layer, which are described below.

Create a document feature layer in your drawing

The most configurable option is to create a document feature layer.

1. On the ribbon, click the New Feature Layer button.
2. In the window, choose the geometric type that matches the type of objects in your drawing.
3. Provide a descriptive name for the document feature layer in the Name text box.
4. Under Definition Query, click the Add new condition button.
5. In the resultant interface, choose a property to define the document feature layer.
6. To the right of the properties selection, enter a value that matches the value of the properties for the group of objects that will be included in the feature layer.
7. In the Fields section, click the Add New Field button.
8. Enter the properties for the attribute field to attach to the objects in the feature layer.

Example 1

You have a drawing with features that contain all the buildings your organization is working on. The objects are drawn on an AutoCAD layer named Building. You want to create a document feature layer that can organize these objects into a similar grouping to use in ArcGIS. To do this, you will create a polygon document feature layer with a definition query of Layer = Building. You will also add an attribute field for name that can store the name of each building as an attribute on the object. The result is a document feature layer that only contains the polygons on the Buildings layer.

Example 2

Working from the previous example, you have a drawing that has all the elements of a building defined. The CAD layer is named Buildings. The layer contains new, proposed, and existing construction for the project. Each building is drawn in a different color based on its status: new=blue, proposed=red, and existing=yellow. You want to create a document feature layer to use in ArcGIS that only contains the proposed buildings. You could define your definition query as you did in scenario 1 Layer = Buildings, but this would contain all the buildings regardless of their status type. For proposed buildings, you need to define the document feature layer as Layer = Buildings and add a second condition for color = red. This new query contains all the polygons on the Buildings layer that are red (proposed).

Additional creation options

You can also create a document feature layer using the options described below.

CAD Layer to Feature Layer

To create a document feature layer for every object type on each existing CAD layer in your document, complete the following steps:

1. On the ribbon, click the New Feature Layer drop-down button.
2. Click the CAD Layer to Feature Layer button.

Block to Feature Layer

To create a document feature layer for every unique block reference in the active CAD drawing, complete the following steps:

1. On the ribbon, click the New Feature Layer drop-down button.
2. Click the Block to Feature Layer button.

Entity to Feature Layer

To create a document feature layer based on the properties of selected entities, complete the following steps:

1. On the ribbon, click the New Feature Layer drop-down button.
2. Click the Entity to Feature Layer button.
3. Review the options in the window.
4. Click Apply to create the document feature layer.

Additional resources

Document feature layers

Feature layer template files

Add GIS Data: Import schema from feature layer template files