Not all data from CAD needs to go to GIS. Usually those features that represent real world items are translated. These include road alignments, property lines, and water networks and so on. GIS does not deal well with annotation and dimensions.

• Keep those features that need to go to GIS on a separate level with only one type of feature. Keep any associated annotations, dimensions, tick marks etc. on a separate level

Bentley Map tries to create features from CAD data by evaluating the level and the type of object found on those levels. Since GIS files can only contain one type of feature (point, line or polygon), Bentley Map decides what type a feature is based on the first object it finds on a level. This means if it finds a point on a level first, then that level will become a point feature. If there are lines or polygons on that level, they will not be exported to a point feature type.

• Keep only one type of feature on a level. If the level represents survey monuments, then make sure there are no lines or polygons on that level or they will not appear in the output file.

CAD features often represent survey accurate engineering objects, including circles with a defined radius, arcs, b-splines etc. These will be converted to lines when translated to GIS.

• Use the largest stroking tolerance that will still produce suitable results. This will result in smaller and faster GIS files.