GISuser How To - Importing SDTS GIS data into AutoCAD
Written by Glenn Letham (GISuser editor)
19 July 2005
Getting USGS SDTS format data into your GIS or CAD program can be a bit of a hassle. The following document created with the help of the USGS SDTS discussion list provides some simple tips that will help to bring these data into AutoCAD.
3. Unzip/untar the files using WinZip or GunZip (If you use WinZip, look under options/Configuration/Miscellaneous." The "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion" must NOT have a check mark)
4. This will give you a bunch of .ddf files
5. Locate the SDTS2DXF translator (available from numerous sources on the web) see link in next step
6. Download SDTS2DXF.EXE (Place in directory with .ddf files)
7. Go to a DOS prompt and change to the your file directory
8. For this step, different procedures are required depending on the data scale involved:
where: sdts2dxf = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters in SDTS file name 01-04 = tile numbers bd100k? = your name for the dxf file
FOR 7.5' MAPS: Type: sdts2dxf BD01 01 bd24k where: sdts2dxf = the executable BD01 = first 4 characters of SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd24k = your name for dxf file
FOR 1:2,000,000 MAPS: Type: sdts2dxf MOBD 01 bd2m where: sdts2dxf = the executable MOBD = first 4 characters of the SDTS file name 01 = numbers in the 7 and 8 positions in the file name bd2m = your name for the dxf file
9. Start AutoCad
10. Click File/Import
11. Change file type to .dxf
12. Find file in your directory click OK
13. Click View/Zoom/Extents to make file visible.
Note: If bringing in the 100K you will need to import all 4 tiles.
If you need to take a quick look at the files prior to importing, you can just drag and drop the .tar.gz file into the free viewer available from http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/drc/dlgv32pro/
SDTS TO AUTOCAD DXF--Please note that the current conversion from SDTS TVP to DXF does not include attribute information.
Autodesk announced new drivers that support SDTS data for AutoCAD Map 2000 release 4 and Land Development Desktop release 2 through the GIS Data Transformer Extension. More information is online at http://pointa01.autodesk.com/
What is SDTS?
The Spatial Data Transfer Standard, or SDTS, is a robust way of transferring earth-referenced spatial data between dissimilar computer systems with the potential for no information loss. It is a transfer standard that embraces the philosophy of self-contained transfers, i.e. spatial data, attribute, georeferencing, data quality report, data dictionary, and other supporting metadata all included in the transfer - See also http://mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/sdts/standard.html(Source: USGS)
Also of interest, the popular SDTS2DEM utility by Gregg Townsend http://www.cs.arizona.edu/topovista/sdts2dem/. The sdts2dem program translates USGS DEM files from SDTS format to "native" format.
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Getting USGS SDTS format data into your GIS or CAD program can be a bit of a hassle. The following document created with the help of the USGS SDTS discussion list provides some simple tips that will help to bring these data into AutoCAD.
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