Shapefile into Geospatial PDF

[spencer.trowbridge]

Are Shapefiles still able to be uploaded into a Geospatial PDF? I have not been able to get that functionality to work.

Here is the link:  https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/geospatial-pdfs.html

[ls_rbls]

I answered this a year ago for another user that was testing that functionality with the 7 day trial version of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

The short answer is No because a gesopatial enabling process of JPEG 2000 or TIFF must occur first in order to be able georeference the resulting PDF document.

So you will be able to retain Shapefiles but not through by using Adobe Acrobat Pro by itself.

The shapefile is retained if the geospatial software has  the capability to export directly to PDF. But that doesn't seem to be possible with most geospatial software.

Some users are able to work around this by exporting  JPEG 2000 or TIFF to an .ai (Adobe Illustrator) file, then from Illustrator to .pdf.

See how ArcGIS recommends to do this here:

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/data/imagery/georeferencing-a-raster-to-a-referenced-layer.ht... 

See also here:

https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000012398 

When you get your layers ready with the steps recommended above, then you'll be able to georeference your PDF maps using the Adobe Helpx link that you've posted and also with the tips offered in this other old but useful guidance:

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/how-create-geospatial-pdf/index.html 

[spencer.trowbridge]

its not about retaining a shapefile. It is about importing one into an existing Geospatial Document.

The Link should simply be removed, if the option to do so no longer exists, it seems.

[spencer.trowbridge]

Navigating to a link above gives the exact same instructions. These links need removed, it seems.

[ls_rbls]

Totally agree. It seems like that capability was removed after Acrobat IX version.

In any case the answer is still No, it is not possible.

And this is fully explained in the ArcGIS Help main page.

And the same answer would be if you try to georeference a PDF file directly into geospatial software.

As mentioned in the ArcGIS help page, You'll always need to convert the PDF to TIFF or JPEG (the supported raster format); then add it to the geospatial software in order to be able to transform the raster.

I will post back I have something that can help with this

[ls_rbls]

Here you go: https://gdal.org/drivers/raster/pdf.html

These software supports a driver that rasterizes PDFs.

They a have sample PDF that allows you to play around with in Acrobat.

When you open the "Measuring Tool" you'll notice that the measuring comes up as coordinate grids , not inches. That's how you can tell if the final PDF product was properly rasterized (but I assume you already know this...just saying for the benefit of other readers in this discussion).

I am sharing these two links to example files created with the GDAL software :

• https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:3b4fd52d-9445-4359-8b81-617a77b80352

• https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:6c7305eb-e173-4f8a-8c5b-1d4eee8eea8f

NOTE: Additional downloading of plug-ins may be necessary to get the full functionality. But in my case all I care about is to be able to use the measuring tool properly.

[spencer.trowbridge]

It is possible using other software, not the workflow asked about in the opening question.

MAPublisher is one such software that allows you to use Adobe Illustrator for this purpose. Rather simply in fact when compared to ArcGIS conversions embedded in the Geoprocessing toolboxes of that software.

MAPublisher allows you to import shapefiles directly to a GeoPDF and subsequently continue to manipulate the files as though you are working in Adobe Illustrator, because you are at that point. However, like other software that can do this, it is not free.

Using the method outlined in the link here does not work.   https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/geospatial-pdfs.html

[spencer.trowbridge · Accepted solution]

The answer is no. You can not import a shapefile to a PDF.