Use AutoCAD Map 3D to analyze data in many ways. This tutorial demonstrates three of them:
- Analyze
data visually, using surfaces.
Connect to a surface (DEM) image and style it using a theme to show relative elevation. Then, connect to a file that shows parcel information and make the parcels semi-transparent so you can see the raster image below them. The elevation theme of the raster helps you see the elevation of the parcels.
- Analyze
data with external information sources, using joins.
Join a Microsoft Access database to the parcels layer in the map to see information about the parcel owners. Using joins, you combine data sources temporarily, without altering the original data stores. Use the combined data as though it were a single data source—for example, style a layer based on its joined data, even though the joined data is not part of the original layer data store. Create calculated fields using native and joined data.
- Analyze
data by proximity, using buffers.
Define a buffer around a street in Redding to see which parcels lie within a construction zone. Select the parcels that adjoin the buffer and save them separately so you can notify their owners, using the owner information you joined to the parcels.
Export relevant data to a comma-separated file that you can import into Microsoft Excel or Access. Use that data to create a report to send to the owners.