This process can be quick, by following the steps listed here. A more illustrated process is shown below, and in the attached PDF file at the end of the article.
- Open the DGN File in Bentley Map
- Select Export > GIS data Types from the File menu
- This will open the Map Interoperability dialog box. Right-click on the Exports node. Select New Export
- Select the export node that was just added.
- Right Click the export node and select the Add Shapefile... item. Browse to a folder and select Save
- Select the layer or Feature to export
- Right-click the Shapefile name, or Layer name and select Export
Illustrated steps
Open a DGN File in Bentley Map using the msgeo User Configuration File
2. Select the Export > GIS data Types menu item from the File menu
3. This will open the Map Interoperability dialog box. Right-click on the Exports node. Select New Export
For each new Export that is created, the node will be incremented by one, Export1, Export2, etc.
4. Select the Export node. Review the Spatial Criteria tab and make any required changes. You can specify to import All of the Features in the Shapfile, or limit them to those within a Fence or MicroStation View.
5. Right-click on the Export1 node and Select the Add Shapefile… item from the list. This will open the Windows Explorer window where you can browse and save the Shapefile in your Workspace.
If you plan to save multiple layers at once, use the Add ESRI Shapefile Directory… item. This will create one Shapefile for each layer selected in the Export node.
6. A new entry for the Shapefile name will be added under the Export node. If you are using a Bentley Map Schema created from the Geospatial Administrator, the list will be sorted by Category. If no schema is used, the list will be in the Attached node. Select the plus sign next to the Category that you intend to Export. This exposes the layers list.
Each feature type is indicated by its name and icon-type: point, line, or polygon. Select the check-box next to the Feature or Layer that you intend to Export
Notice that new tabs are created below the Layers list. These fields allow you to specify how the Shapefile contents and parameters will be defined. For example, if you are exporting a layer of Contours from a 3D Design File, you should set the “Create 2.5D file(s)” parameter to True. You can specify a Where Clause to limit the output to a set of features that meet a certain condition – “Municipalities Where Population ≥ 500,000”, for example.
7. To Export the Shapefile, right-click the Shapefile name or Layer name and select the Export item
Other options on this list include the Preview item, Search…, Remove and Show/HideFeatures items.
Preview– displays the layer contents in the Bentley Map Data Browser
Search…– opens the Query dialog box, where you can specify search criteria to locate objects that meet certain conditions
Remove– deletes the Shapefile node from the list. This option is not available when you have selected one of the layers in the list
Show Features > Ungrouped - This option is very useful to include or exclude individual properties from the output Shapefile. This is sometimes required when you have duplicate business property names (fields) or unnecessary fields that you do not want to be included in the output Shapefile.
8. A process monitor in the MicroStation Messages field shows you the progress and time elapsed for the export.
9. Browse to the output folder specified in step 7, and review the files to see that they were created correctly. You can test this by attaching the Shapefile in the MicroStation Reference dialog to see that the Features were exported to your specifications.
Export DGN and XFM to Shapefile PDF
Note : Export functionality is available in Bentley Map and Bentley Map Enterprise. It is not available in Bentley Map Power View.