Because it is common to find maps that are created in different coordinate systems, you need to have

a method to bring those maps together so that you can integrate them into a single environment that

uses a single coordinate system. One way to do this is in AutoCAD Map 3D with a query.

This drawing has parcels that reside in a state planes coordinate system. The county roads drawing

also has roads that were created in a latitude-longitude coordinate system.

In the Parcels drawing, as you move the cursor and look at the coordinates in the Status bar, you can

see that these coordinates are typical for state planes coordinate systems.

To verify the coordinate system used in this drawing, on to the ribbon, Map Setup tab, Coordinate

System panel, click Assign. This opens the Coordinate System - Assign dialog, and at the top, you

can see that the current drawing, the Parcel drawing, is in the NAD 83, California state planes, zone

one, US foot coordinate system.

Next, open the County Roads drawing to examine the coordinate system it was created with. In this

drawing, as you move the cursor, you can see that these coordinates are very different, and that they

are typical latitude-longitude values. The roads in this drawing are actually in the same geographic

location as the parcels. If you were to try and combine these drawings without some sort of

coordinate transformation, they would be in wildly different locations in the drawing.

Again, on the ribbon, Map Setup tab, Coordinate System panel, click Assign. In the Coordinate

System - Assigns dialog, you can see that there is no coordinate system assigned. The problem here

is that when a coordinate system is not assigned, AutoCAD Map does not know how to perform the

transformation, because it does not know what coordinate system this drawing is based in. When you

assign a coordinate system to any drawing, you are not actually changing the geometry of that

drawing, but simply assigning a label, or defining the system that geometry is already in.

So, in order for you to assign a coordinate system, you must already know what coordinate system the

geometry is in. In this case, this geometry resides in a latitude-longitude WGS84 system. So before

you can use the county roads drawing together with the parcels drawing in the same environment, you

need to assign the proper coordinate system to this drawing.

Under Search, start a search for the latitude-longitude coordinate system that you want to use. There
are hundreds of coordinate systems available, and you can use any search criteria that you want to

find the correct coordinate system. In this case, since you know the coordinate system is LL 84, type "

LL 84," select that coordinate system from the search list, and click Assign. Again, you haven't

changed any of the geometry in the drawing; you simply told AutoCAD Map what it is. Save and close

this drawing, and the assigned coordinate system is saved in the AutoCAD Map drawing file.
Now you need to see how these two drawings behave after establishing those coordinate systems. Go

back to the Parcels drawing. You must attach the County Roads drawing to the Parcel drawing. In the

Task Pane, Map Explorer tab, right-click Drawings and click Attach. Navigate to your drive alias, select

the dataset folder, and then select the County Roads drawing, click Add, and then click OK.

Next, perform a Quick View of the County Roads drawing. You can see that the roads have been

transformed from latitude-longitude, to the state planes coordinate system that is present in the

parcels drawing. Again, realize that you didn't actually change the geometry in the County Roads

drawing. Instead, since AutoCAD Map has accurate information about the coordinate systems of both

of these drawings, it performed the transformation to the County Roads geometry.