Importing coverage Annotation into an ArcSDE Geodatabase

October 26, 2012

Two steps are required to import your coverage annotation into an ArcSDE Geodatabase. The first step involves creating the empty annotation feature class in ArcSDE. This is accomplished through ArcCatalog. The second is to import the coverage annotation into the feature class. This step is accomplished in ArcMap.

ArcCatalog

1. Start ArcCatalog and ensure that you have established a connection to the ArcSDE database through the Database Connections.
2. Right click on the ArcSDE database and choose New -> Feature Class.
3. In the New Feature Class dialog, choose a Name and Alias for the Feature Class and select the "This feature class will store annotation features, network features, or custom objects". Click Next.
4. Enter an appropriate Reference Scale and specify the Map Units for the data. Click Next.. Click Next.
5. Add or modify the fields of the table if desired. Click Finish.

An empty annotation feature class has now been created into which coverage annotation can be imported. Exit ArcCatalog and start ArcMap.

ArcMap

1. Add the coverage annotation to ArcMap.
2. Right Click on the annotation layer in the Table of Contents and select Convert Coverage Annotation. If you do not have a choice for Convert Coverage Annotation continue with step 9 to add the button to the GUI, otherwise go to step 12.
3. Click on the Tools menu and then select Customize.
4. Click on the Commands tab and check the box for Label. You should see in the Commands window the Convert Coverage Annotation command.
5. Drag the Convert Coverage Annotation button to any toolbar. This will add the functionality to the ArcMap GUI.
6. Click the Convert Coverage Annotation button to start the importing process.
7. In the Convert Coverage Annotation dialog ensure that the annotation layer is selected and then select the "Into a Database" radio button.
8. Browse to the location of the Feature Class that you created in the ArcSDE Geodatabase. Click Convert.
9. Add the new ArcSDE annotation to the current map document if desired. Click Close.

To have feature linked annotation in ArcSDE you can add the annotation feature class into a feature dataset which contains other feature classes.


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