GIS Data and Excel Spreadsheets

I am working on a urban design project and am working in Grasshopper and have GIS data. Does anyone know how to link GIS data into grasshopper, if possible? Thanks

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerry Wong on March 25, 2010 at 9:36am

i have never tried this but i found a tutorial that may help.

http://www.liquidtectonics.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

Permalink Reply by Benjamin Golder on March 28, 2010 at 3:56pm

That definitely depends on the type of GIS data. But if you simply want to maintain a list of attributes that are linked to instances of geometry, I'd recommend exporting your attribute table as an excel spreadsheet, and then reviewing the many discussions about linking excel to Grasshopper.

If you are trying to reference raster data, then you may need to convert the raster to a readable format.

FYI, I have found that if you export a shapefile to DXF, and then open it in Rhino, the individual objects should be in reverse order from their order in GIS. This means you can export to dxf, import into Rhino, and then input the geometry to Grasshopper through a selection by layer, you should end up with a list that is in the opposite order of your attribute table. then all you have to do to keep your attribute table in order with your grasshopper objects is to reverse either the attribute table spreadsheet or your list of geometry in grasshopper.

This method, however, is not a "live" method. I'm sure that with enough VB.NET skills someone could establish a live connection between ArcMap and Grasshopper.

Permalink Reply by Jordan Martin on April 1, 2010 at 1:38pm