Coming soonAdvanced development

GIS Evidence Workspace

Live Context, Coordinate-Aware Sources & Controlled Extraction

Product direction

Bring useful GIS context into Autodesk CAD, including total-station drawings that do not have an assigned real-world CRS.

GIS Evidence Workspace connects supported live layers, source lookups, imagery, and coordinate-aware tools to the active drawing. Its standout Approximate Local Drawing Setup lets a surveyor begin with state, county, district, tax map, and parcel information, center the GIS view near the project, and fine-tune its position and rotation. The drawing keeps its local survey coordinates while compatible GIS tools gain a shared approximate location.

For local-coordinate and total-station projects

Keep the GIS experience even when the drawing has no assigned real-world CRS

Locate the project from its parcel identity, align supported GIS context to the surveyor's drawing, and use that same saved alignment across compatible viewers and source tools.

Enter the West Virginia county, district, tax map, and parcel or parcels, choose the drawing units, and identify the approximate project center in the drawing.
Use closeable display controls to nudge the GIS context north, south, east, or west and rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise until it is useful for the project.
Keep the setup with that DWG so compatible GIS views and lookups return to the latest saved alignment.
Use deliberately coarse grid-coordinate labels when helpful: values are rounded to at least 100 drawing units, precision cannot be increased, latitude/longitude is unavailable, and the label is marked as not survey control.

Designed capabilities

Approximate GIS context for total-station and other local-coordinate drawings
Supported live GIS layers and source lookups inside the CAD workflow
One saved nudge-and-rotation alignment shared by compatible GIS surfaces in the DWG
Supported imagery and source-area downloads with approximate-placement warnings retained
Real-CRS workflows for precise coordinate labeling, NGS survey control, and exact georeferenced placement

Professional boundary

GIS layers, tax parcels, imagery, roads, hydrography, and terrain sources are contextual evidence. Approximate Local Drawing Setup makes that context usable around a local-coordinate drawing but does not create survey control or validate, correct, fit, or replace survey geometry. Precision-dependent output remains limited until the drawing has a valid real-world CRS.

Inside GIS Evidence Workspace

Useful geographic context with the drawing's coordinate authority kept clear.

Choose the setup that matches the project. A real CRS supports precise coordinate work; a local-coordinate drawing can use controlled approximate context without changing its survey geometry.

Drawing location and coordinate context

Establish how GIS context relates to the active drawing before using location-aware viewers or source tools.

Approximate Local Drawing Setup

Gives a local-coordinate or total-station drawing a shared approximate GIS location from its parcel identity, with surveyor-controlled move and rotation adjustments.

Read detailed capabilities

Real-World Coordinate System Setup

Uses a valid assigned CRS when the project has one, making that real coordinate authority available to compatible precise coordinate and placement workflows.

Viewer and source controls

Bring supported context into view and keep the surveyor in control of what occupies the map area.

Live GIS Layers

Displays supported current source layers as viewing context, separate from extraction or survey geometry.

GIS Display Controls

Provides closeable, reopenable controls for compatible layer appearance and for the saved move-and-rotate alignment used by an approximate local drawing.

GIS Attribute Lookups

Retrieves available parcel, road, hydrographic, and other supported source information at a selected drawing location for compatible workflows such as LABEL.

Downloads and verified control

Keep approximate source context distinct from workflows that require a valid real-world coordinate system.

Supported Imagery & Source Downloads

Prepares supported source-area and imagery downloads for the project; approximate-local placement retains visible not-survey-control status, while exact placement requires a valid real CRS.

NGS Survey Control

Supports verified-control discovery and placement only when the drawing has a valid real-world CRS; approximate local setup does not unlock or imitate survey control.