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AutoCAD

AutoCAD interchange is for projects whose source-of-truth geometry lives in .dwg or .dxf files. Many engineering organizations still author site plans in AutoCAD; the workflow below covers moving that geometry into Siter for QD analysis.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Prepare an AutoCAD drawing for import into Siter
  • Recognize which AutoCAD entities translate cleanly and which do not
  • Verify imported geometry against the source drawing

Supported formats​

[TODO: FILL IN — confirm which AutoCAD formats Siter accepts: .dwg, .dxf, version constraints (e.g., AutoCAD 2018 or earlier), and any preferred path (direct import vs DXF export from AutoCAD as an interchange step).]

Pre-import preparation in AutoCAD​

A clean import starts with a clean drawing. Before exporting from AutoCAD:

  • Reduce to relevant entities — turn off layers irrelevant to QD (electrical, utility plans, dimension annotations) so they don't import as noise
  • Convert blocks to geometry — Siter does not understand AutoCAD blocks; explode them into raw lines and polylines
  • Clean up linework — remove duplicate lines, close polylines that should be closed, fix self-intersections
  • Set drawing units — confirm the drawing's units match the units you'll use in Siter (typically feet for U.S. installations)
  • Establish a reference frame — note the coordinate system the drawing is in (often a local installation coordinate system, sometimes a state plane projection)

Skipping these steps on import produces a Siter project full of irrelevant geometry, broken polylines, and coordinate-system surprises. The cleanup time spent in AutoCAD pays back ten times over in Siter.

Coordinate system considerations​

AutoCAD drawings are often in a local coordinate system — origin at a survey monument, units in feet, no relation to a global geodetic datum. Siter projects, by contrast, are anchored to a real-world location.

To bridge:

  • If the AutoCAD drawing has known control points with known geodetic coordinates, georeference the drawing in QGIS (see QGIS) before importing
  • If the drawing is already in a known projected coordinate system (e.g., a state plane), set Siter's project spatial reference to match
  • If neither holds, use placement analysis or manual reference points to register the AutoCAD geometry to Siter's map

[TODO: FILL IN — Siter-specific coordinate system and georeferencing options at import time.]

Importing into Siter​

[TODO: FILL IN — exact AutoCAD import UI flow in Siter. Confirm whether .dwg is accepted directly or only via .dxf interchange. Document any per-import options for layer mapping, entity type filtering, and units.]

Verifying after import​

After import, sanity-check on the map:

  1. Spot-check a few imported features against the source drawing — same shape, same dimensions, same orientation
  2. Confirm the geometry sits at the expected real-world location (not at the AutoCAD origin)
  3. Compare a known distance in the source drawing to the same distance in Siter; they should match within the imagery's precision

If the geometry looks rotated, scaled, or offset, the coordinate system handling did not work. Re-import with corrected settings rather than nudging the imported features into place.

What does not translate​

AutoCAD entitySiter equivalent
Polylines (closed)Polygon features
LinesLine features
PointsPoint features
BlocksMust be exploded to raw geometry first
HatchesNot imported
Text annotationsNot imported as feature attributes (may be imported as labels — verify)
Dimension annotationsNot imported

[TODO: FILL IN — confirm the above and add any AutoCAD-specific entities Siter handles or rejects.]

Try it​

Take a small AutoCAD drawing of a single facility footprint:

  1. In AutoCAD, isolate the relevant geometry, explode any blocks, and confirm units
  2. Export as .dxf (or import .dwg directly if Siter supports it)
  3. Import into a Siter project
  4. Verify the imported polygon matches the source dimensions and sits at the expected location