AutoCAD Map 3DAutoCAD® Map 3D software is a flexible development platform for specialized mapping, land planning and infrastructure management applications. With AutoCAD® Map 3D as a platform, you can take advantage of industry-standard development tools and technologies when building applications. It provides direct access to a wide range of CAD, GIS, and raster data formats from multiple sources, without the need for data copying or conversion. Learn more about the latest AutoCAD Map 3D features at the AutoCAD Map 3D product center. Programming Tools and Setup
The AutoCAD® Map 3D APIs includes ActiveX, AutoLISP, ObjectARX, Geospatial Platform, and Feature Data Objects (FDO). ObjectARX and FDO are exposed as C++ and also .NET. Geospatial Platform is exposed as .NET only. ObjectARX, Geospatial Platform, and FDO are installed with the AutoCAD Map 3D SDK only, which is a separate download. However the documentation for these APIs is included in both AutoCAD Map 3D and AutoCAD Map 3D SDK installations. ActiveX and AutoLISP and their documentation are installed with AutoCAD Map 3D only. They are not included in the AutoCAD Map 3D SDK. The Geospatial Platform API .NET assemblies are installed with the product and located in the installation folder and its FDO\bin subfolder. Development with latest release of Map 3D requires Visual Studio 2008 SP1.Using the ActiveX (COM Automation) interface in AutoCAD Map 3D software, you can build applications with a variety of programming technologies and environments including MSVC++, VB, Delphi, and Java. When developing on AutoCAD® Map 3D, we have two broad APIs to choose from - (1) the APIs based on AutoCAD entities (Object ARX, .NET, COM Automation, LISP), and (2)the Geospatial Platform API which works with features from FDO data sources only. When developing object oriented C++ applications for AutoCAD® Map 3D, you'll be working with both the ObjectARX SDK for AutoCAD and the ObjectARX SDK for AutoCAD Map. Source Code Samples
Several source code samples showing how to use the new Geospatial Platform API are included in the Map 3D ObjectARX SDK. These samples are located in the Map Samples\Platform subfolder. They work with GIS features only, i.e. data from FDO sources. The Map 3D ObjectARX SDK also contains .NET samples in C# and VB.NET showing how to use the older APIs that work with AutoCAD (AcDb) entities only, such as Object Data, Topology, Classification, Object Filter, etc. These are in the Map Samples subfolder. Because AutoCAD Map 3D is built on AutoCAD, you can take advantage of all the AutoCAD source code samples for ActiveX (COM Automation), VB/VBA, Visual Lisp that are the Sample subfolder of the AutoCAD Map 3D installation directory. In addition, the AutoCAD ObjectARX SDK contains AutoCAD .NET and C++ source code samples which are useful for Map 3D application development. DevTV: Introduction to AutoCAD Map 3D Geospatial API Programming
A self-paced video tutorial demonstrating how to get started developing with the AutoCAD Map 3D Geospatial API.
View online | Download DocumentationThe Docs subfolder in the AutoCAD Map ObjectARX SDK installation directory contains Help files and Developers Guide for all the APIs, except the ActiveX (COM Automation) and AutoLISP® APIs. Documentation for the ActiveX (COM Automation) and AutoLISP® APIs are in the Help subfolder of the AutoCAD Map installation directory TrainingCheck to see if there are any AutoCAD Map instructor-led training classes currently scheduled. To register for a scheduled instructor-led training class or to request that a new class be scheduled, send us an e-mail. If you would like personalized API training at your facility, send us an e-mail | 