We have all come to rely so much on instant geographic data that it is hard to recall when it was not at our fingertips. A sense of location not only delivers immediate understanding, it enhances communication and collaboration. By integrating information into a common spatial language, geographic information system (GIS) technology connects people and their work. Because it provides such an insight into place, it is widely used to address social, economic, business and environmental concerns. At local, national and global levels GIS is a proven and powerful decision making tool. 

 

Esri has been developing GIS solutions since it was founded in California in 1969. These include off-the-shelf technology, customized enterprise systems, implementation services and training. Esri software is now used by more than 350,000 government and commercial organizations worldwide and has become a standard for many public bodies. On any given day over a million people on planet earth use Esri’s GIS to improve the way they conduct business.

 

Esri’s world-leading product, ArcGIS, is a system that lets users easily author data, maps, globes and models on the desktop and serve them out for use on a desktop, in CAD, in a browser or via mobile devices. ArcGIS gives developers the tools to build their own applications.

 

In order to develop its range of solutions Esri needed to read .dwg/.dxf files so that it could abstract CAD geometry as native GIS data; it also needed to write .dwg/.dxf files from its ArcGIS data. 

 

A founding member, Esri joined the ODA so that it could obtain the technology to do this in a cost effective manner by sharing development costs with other members. Esri uses ODA files and the Teigha platform so that it can read and write .dwg/.dxf files including its own non-graphic entities.  Esri’s own form of extended attribution, these effectively create and maintain GIS formatted data within the .dwg/.dxf file.  Esri calls this form of .dwg data the Mapping Specification for CAD (MSC).

 

According to Esri’s CAD Product Manager, Don Kuehne, without the ODA the alternative routes would have been to license technology from Autodesk, license it from someone else or engineer it themselves. The first two options would have been subject to changes in the business climate and in working relationships and so unpredictable in the long term. As for the third, extracting CAD geometry would not only have required internal expertise and dedicated time, it would have carried a price tag. “Engineering the technology to read and write another company’s proprietary data format is difficult and costly,” observes Don. “It is good business to share the cost of such an effort as the ODA does with its Teigha technology.”

 

He goes on to explain: “At the time we joined the ODA, we probably had one person working part time to parse .dxf files for useful content. Working with .dxf files was relatively easy for what we needed to do at that point. However, we did not even attempt to read .dwg files, which is orders of magnitude more difficult to do. Our choice to read .dwg files was more opportunistic. We would not have tried to read them and stay up to date with changes in the .dwg file format. We would have relied on others to do this for us and/or not attempted to read .dwg files at that time.”

 

 He adds, “Other sources for reading and writing .dwg files are available, however the ODA provides the technology we need, and Esri is happy with the way the ODA keeps up to date with the .dwg/.dxf formats as changes are introduced periodically from Autodesk. Ultimately, ODA technology opens up possibilities for our own development efforts. It has freed us to follow new potential that we probably would not otherwise have attempted.” 

 

From annual revenues of $794 million Esri reinvests 20% in R&D each year. In order to ensure product compatibility and explore new technologies Esri fosters relationships with more than 65 software, technology, data, hardware, system integrator and consulting companies. For example, Esri works closely with technology leaders such as Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Citrix, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and SAS. 

 

It was Esri’s strategic aim to provide GIS technology to many people working on different computing platforms that resulted in the extension of the .dwg file to contain attributed GIS data. Don expands on the benefits of this: “The .dwg file is now a better interchange format than Esri Shapefiles when working between ArcGIS and AutoCAD. This is because there is no longer any need for translation, and because the enhanced .dwg file can contain attributed feature classes that contain annotation and circular curves (not supported with Shapefiles).”

 

Esri went on to publish the specification for MSC and published samples, using the ODA Teigha tools, showing how to manipulate this data within any ODA based application that uses .dwg/.dxf files. In addition Esri provides a free plug-in to AutoCAD that allows developers to create and edit this form of .dwg data when working in AutoCAD. 

 

The dissemination of this key information enabled companies that already develop ODA-based applications to read/write Esri ArcGIS Data in .dwg files and enter the GIS market with minimal effort, providing big benefits to their customers. Recognizing the advantages, other ODA members quickly began to adopt this technology in their applications. 

 

Don concludes, “It’s a win-win situation that expands the market for GIS. By focusing on stability the ODA fosters collaboration and creativity for the benefit of all its members.”