Developing Drawing Validation Rules

Once a drafting standard and drawing management system has been established, a drawing validation process must exist to ensure compliance with corporate standards. Oftentimes this consists of one or more drafters or checkers performing drawing audits from within AutoCAD® software using various tools like Check Standards, LayWalk, and so on. This process can be time-consuming and costly especially when a large amount of drawings must be processed within a short time period. Several third-party applications exist to assist with this process but most require an extensive setup and an external database. The simplest approach may be to use a product prominent in most GIS environments to extract, transfer, or manipulate data within varying file formats. This class illustrates how the Feature Manipulation Engine (FME) can be used to audit an AutoCAD file to ensure compliance with corporate drafting standards, thus reducing or eliminating the cost for drawing validation prior to project closure.