{"id":2821662,"date":"2025-07-11T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T12:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2821662"},"modified":"2025-08-04T08:28:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T15:28:48","slug":"from-gis-to-cad-3d-site-download","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/js-api-arcgis\/3d-gis\/from-gis-to-cad-3d-site-download","title":{"rendered":"From GIS to CAD: 3D Site Download"},"author":9302,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23771,37151,738191],"tags":[],"industry":[],"product":[36831],"class_list":["post-2821662","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3d-gis","category-design-planning","category-developers","product-js-api-arcgis"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":9302,"user_firstname":"Arno","user_lastname":"Fiva","nickname":"Arno Fiva","user_nicename":"afiva","display_name":"Arno Fiva","user_email":"afiva@esri.com","user_url":"http:\/\/js.arcgis.com","user_registered":"2019-03-26 21:36:58","user_description":"Developer Evangelist at the Esri R&D Center Z\u00fcrich, creating 3D web apps using the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"Export georeferenced 3D models of buildings and terrain using the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Architects, urban planners, and civil engineers often require accurate and accessible 3D context to visualize and design new projects within existing urban environments. A new open-source showcase<\/a> app built with the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript<\/a>, called the City Download Portal<\/strong><\/a>, enables you to do exactly that. By drawing an extent, you can download selected buildings and terrain as one single 3D model. Open the file – for example in Blender, Rhino or SketchUp – to import GIS context into your favorite modeling software.<\/p>\n

Want to try it out before diving into the details of 3D formats and georeferencing? Here is the link to the live showcase app: https:\/\/esri.github.io\/city-download-portal\/<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"kaltura","video_id":"1_ibokdr8q","time":false,"start":0,"stop":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The 3D Object Layer<\/h2>\n

Uploading and manipulating 3D models on the web is enabled by a layer type called 3D object layer. It can be created through ArcGIS Pro or directly in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise. My colleague Nikola Marincic has an excellent article<\/a> on the creation and usage of this layer.<\/p>\n

A 3D object layer consists of a 3D object scene layer and a 3D object feature layer. The scene layer facilitates efficient display and loading, while the associated feature layer stores the data for editing and querying. This 3D functionality is integrated within the SceneLayer<\/a> class, allowing you to use SceneLayer.queryFeatures()<\/code><\/a> to retrieve results directly from the associated feature layer. This means you can run spatial or attribute-based queries that return the 3D geometry, the same way you\u2019re used to with point, line, and polygon features.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2844062,"id":2844062,"title":"Slide1","filename":"Slide1.png","filesize":944122,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/js-api-arcgis\/3d-gis\/from-gis-to-cad-3d-site-download\/slide1-7","alt":"","author":"9302","description":"","caption":"","name":"slide1-7","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2821662,"date":"2025-06-20 12:41:42","modified":"2025-06-20 12:41:42","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1440,"height":810,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","large-width":1440,"large-height":810,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","1536x1536-width":1440,"1536x1536-height":810,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","2048x2048-width":1440,"2048x2048-height":810,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1-826x465.png","card_image-width":826,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Slide1.png","wide_image-width":1440,"wide_image-height":810}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Manipulating 3D models such as buildings directly in the browser requires having the 3D geometry in an interoperable format. For web applications, the common format is GLB – also known as binary glTF. Here\u2019s the awesome part: our team at the Esri R&D Center Zurich made 3D data manipulation and access available as a public API. This means you can use the JavaScript Maps SDK to implement custom workflows and applications using your 3D data, ultimately empowering authoritative data providers to increase interoperability and accessibility of their 3D system of record.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

3D Geometry Workflow<\/h2>\n

In our City Download Portal we leverage these new possibilities in the following way:<\/p>\n