Digital plan submittal requirements

[nerudite]

My fair city currently requires that digital plans (in autocad-friendly format) accompany any subdivision proposals, engineering infrastructure proposals, etc. So every application we receive for development, we then need to convert the autocad files to shape files for our GIS system.

We are considering working with the local development community to start requesting the information be submitted in shape file formats, so we don't have to go through the conversion step.

Does anyone know of a municipality where this is the common practice? If so, how receptive was the development community and what did you do to gain their acceptance?

[noottamevas]

My fair city currently requires that digital plans (in autocad-friendly format) accompany any subdivision proposals, engineering infrastructure proposals, etc. So every application we receive for development, we then need to convert the autocad files to shape files for our GIS system.

We are considering working with the local development community to start requesting the information be submitted in shape file formats, so we don't have to go through the conversion step.

Does anyone know of a municipality where this is the common practice? If so, how receptive was the development community and what did you do to gain their acceptance?

What happens if someone is not using AutoCad? We use MicroStation which converts to ACAD, but there are always conversion issues. I've accepted that whenever I receive a file from anyone in any format that some cleanup will be necessary. I would bet it wouldn't be as smooth of a transition as you hope. Unless you deal with a small number of firms that do things similarly.

If you put this requirement on us, we would probably not be able to comply without buying new software. We do not have any GIS software. Small firms usually aren't very receptive to this.

[NHPlanner]

We allow a variety of formats, but the majority come in as AutoCAD....

n. Board Signature: Prior to obtaining Board signature, the Applicant shall submit two (2) complete paper print plan sets and supporting documents as required in Section 4.19 with a letter explaining how the Applicant addressed the conditions of approval. This shall include final and complete reports for all items submitted during review for the Town of Londonderry’s file. The Chairman and Secretary of the Board shall endorse a reproducible mylar, and four (4) paper copies of the approved plan(s) meeting the conditions of approval upon receipt of an executed bond for all improvements, excluding buildings. The Planning Department shall retain a reproducible and four (4) paper copies with supporting documents for Town of Londonderry records.

In addition, complete electronic files of all of the drawings in the plan set shall be provided for the Town of Londonderry’s records, in accordance with the following:

1. All submitted plans shall also be submitted to the GIS Manager in .dxf (Drawing Exchange File) format, AutoCAD drawing (.dwg) format, ESRI Geodatabase format (.mdb), ESRI Export file format (.E00), or ArcView Shapefile format (.shp).
2. Where digital files are not projected in NH State Plane feet, NAD83, the applicant shall submit a brief explanation of how the coordinate system was established if it is not indicated on the submitted plans.
3. All digital Files shall be submitted on a CD-ROM or 3.5” floppy disk (note that files compressed and spanned with multiple floppy disks will not be accepted). Arrangements may be made to send digital data via FTP, email, or on other media on a case-by-case basis by approval of the GIS Manager;
4. If submitted via disk the following information shall be labeled on the disk: file name; property owner name; parcel identification number (tax map and lot number); and name of submitting consultant;
5. Horizontal control points shall have an adjusted accuracy of 1:10,000 (Third Order, Class I);
6. Entities and their data layer properties shall correspond to the following:
i. Property lines entities shall be created on a “ Lot Line” layer.
ii. Parking lots shall be created on a “Plot” layer.
iii. Driveways shall be created on a “Driveway” layer.
iv. Building outlines shall be created on a “Structure” layer.
v. Distance and bearing annotation shall be created on a “Dimtxt” layer.
vi. The digital file shall have a layer named “NHSPCS”. NH State Plane NAD83 referenced points and the easting, northing and vertical descriptions of at least 2 referenced points shall be annotated on this layer.
7. All lines representing property lines shall consist of continuous line work snapped to endpoints. Stonewall representations, unless created using a line type will not be accepted.

[cololi]

Are requirements are similar to NH's. It would be nice to get them in a format that easily converts to GIS, but that doesn't happen very often.

[jread]

It would be nice to get them in a format that easily converts to GIS, but that doesn't happen very often.

You're telling me! I would give anything if they did that here. They used to submit an autocad file but it was a royal pain to convert it to anything useful in GIS.

As it is now, we scan the paper copies of the plans in, register and rectify them in the GIS environment, then digitize the needed features off of them. This is actually faster and easier than trying to convert an autocad file and filter out all the junk.

[jhboyle]

You're telling me! I would give anything if they did that here. They used to submit an autocad file but it was a royal pain to convert it to anything useful in GIS.

As it is now, we scan the paper copies of the plans in, register and rectify them in the GIS environment, then digitize the needed features off of them. This is actually faster and easier than trying to convert an autocad file and filter out all the junk.

does anyone else had this experience, where its faster to scan and adjust as opposed to importing data from CAD. We are currently spending a large amount of money to go to all digital information from mylar and ink and pen.

[jread]

does anyone else had this experience, where its faster to scan and adjust as opposed to importing data from CAD. We are currently spending a large amount of money to go to all digital information from mylar and ink and pen.

I should also add that this is in the ArcGIS environment (9.1). ArcMap makes registering and rectifying an image into a very painless process. It was not so simple in ArcInfo.

[jhboyle]

I assumed that it was in a 9.1 environment, sorry for not being clearer