# ArcGIS integration

GeoDin® Ground and Esri's **ArcGIS for AutoCAD** plug-in can coexist inside the same Civil 3D session. Together they let you overlay GIS context onto your boreholes, and share selected boreholes outward to stakeholders who work in ArcGIS rather than CAD.

There is no special wiring between the two plug-ins. Each is installed independently; once both are present in Civil 3D, their commands simply coexist on the ribbon.

## Install requirements

* GeoDin® Ground installed (see [Installation](/geodin-ground/getting-started/installation.md)).
* Esri **ArcGIS for AutoCAD** plug-in installed. This is Esri's free plug-in for AutoCAD and Civil 3D.
* The two plug-ins are installed against the same Civil 3D version.

## What this unlocks

### Overlay GIS layers over your boreholes

Once both plug-ins are loaded, you can pull layers from Esri's **Living Atlas** — or from your organisation's ArcGIS Online — into the Civil 3D drawing as reference:

* Satellite imagery
* Topography and hillshade
* Land use and zoning
* Hydrology and floodplain layers
* Any shared layer your organisation publishes to ArcGIS Online

With these layers underneath your borehole sticks, the geotechnical data is instantly placed in its real-world context — next to roads, rivers, protected areas, existing infrastructure.

### Push a borehole (or the full set) to ArcGIS Online

You can share the selected features outward so non-CAD stakeholders can see them on a web map:

* Individual boreholes or the full set as point features.
* Attribute data carried along (name, elevation, depth, and any attributes exposed through the GeoDin® database).

This is useful for steering committee reviews, public consultations, and cross-team alignment with a GIS team that does not open Civil 3D files.

## When to use which tool

| Goal                                                   | Tool                                       |
| ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ |
| 3D visualisation and design integration of ground data | GeoDin® Ground                             |
| GIS-style 2D overlays behind the boreholes             | ArcGIS for AutoCAD                         |
| Sharing boreholes as a web map to non-CAD stakeholders | ArcGIS for AutoCAD (push to ArcGIS Online) |
| Editing the underlying borehole record                 | GeoDin® (the desktop application)          |

The two plug-ins are complementary. You do not have to pick one: a typical workflow brings both into the same drawing, uses GeoDin® Ground for the 3D ground model, and uses ArcGIS for AutoCAD for 2D GIS context and outward sharing.


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