CAD · .dgn
MicroStation DGN
DGN is Bentley MicroStation's drawing format. It is common in infrastructure, rail, roads, utilities and engineering organisations that use MicroStation rather than AutoCAD.
- Best used for
- Bringing MicroStation geometry and drawing classification into GIS for analysis or exchange.
- GeoVerto support
- GeoVerto reads DGN and exposes drawing properties such as level, colour and element type as attributes. General output to DGN is possible only with substantial attribute loss and is flagged accordingly.
Source coordinate system
GeoVerto treats the source CRS as information the user must provide. A wrong CRS often produces valid-looking coordinates in the wrong place rather than a clear error, so confirm it from the project or data supplier.
Drawing properties versus attributes
DGN elements carry CAD properties such as level, colour, pen and style. They do not provide a general destination for arbitrary GIS attribute columns, which makes DGN a lossy target for richly attributed data.
Limits to know
- Confirm the DGN generation and CRS with the supplier before conversion.
- Drawing symbology is not equivalent to a portable GIS style and may not survive.
- Writing to DGN can preserve geometry while dropping ordinary attribute fields.
Supported conversions
Convert from DGN
- Convert DGN to GeoJSON — Bring MicroStation elements into a web-map-ready FeatureCollection without pretending the drawing identifies its real-world CRS.
- Convert DGN to Shapefile — Deliver MicroStation drawing elements in a GIS format accepted by older software and established exchange processes.
Convert DGN now
Choose a verified English workflow for this format, with source checks before conversion and a clear download step.