Last verified: June 2026.
Infrakit shows your DWG and DXF drawings on the map by running them through an automatic converter. The converter handles most standard drawings well, but it does not support every CAD feature, and some files will not appear correctly the first time. This is normal. This article explains what Infrakit can and cannot display, how to prepare a file so it works, and what to do when something is missing.
The honest version: not every file works out of the box. Complex drawings, unusual entity types, or files exported with non-standard settings often need a small amount of cleanup first. Most issues come from a handful of recurring causes listed below.
1. What Infrakit can and cannot display
Displays correctly
Standard 2D and basic 3D geometry: lines, polylines, arcs, circles, ellipses, points, text and multitext, hatches, blocks (inserts), solids, 3D faces and meshes, and basic linear/aligned dimensions.
Known limitations
These are the cases that most often cause "my drawing looks wrong or is missing" reports.
What you see in Infrakit | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Curved lines appear as straight lines | Infrakit currently draws splines as a straight line between their endpoints. | Convert splines to polylines in your CAD software before export (most CAD tools have a "spline to polyline" command). |
Dimensions are missing | Radius, angle and ordinate dimensions are not displayed. Only linear and aligned dimensions show. | Explode those dimensions into lines + text before export if the measurements must stay visible. |
Tables are missing | Infrakit cannot display table objects. | Explode tables into lines and text before export. |
Whole sections of the drawing are missing | The content is on a frozen or turned-off layer. Infrakit skips hidden layers entirely. | Turn the relevant layers on before export. |
Individual elements are missing | Those entities have the invisible flag set. Infrakit skips them. | Make them visible in your CAD software, or contact support. |
The drawing appears tiny or in the wrong place on the map | Stray elements near coordinate origin (0,0) inflate the drawing extents, shrinking the real content. | Remove stray geometry near 0,0, or contact support to have it cleaned. |
Title block / legend is missing | It was drawn in a paper-space layout. Infrakit only shows model space. | Move anything that must appear onto model space before export. |
"Entity not supported" type warnings | The file contains infinite construction lines (XLINE/RAY), embedded raster images, OLE objects, or shape entities, which cannot be displayed. | These can be safely removed; they do not represent real drawing content. |
Both formats are equal
DWG and DXF go through the same pipeline. Converting one to the other does not lose or fix anything by itself — the limitations above apply to both.
2. How to prepare a CAD file so it displays well
Do these in your own CAD software before uploading. They resolve the large majority of issues:
Turn on all layers that should be visible. Unfreeze frozen layers; switch on layers that are off.
Convert splines to polylines. This is the single most common fix for "curves look wrong."
Explode unsupported objects you need to keep: radius/angle/ordinate dimensions, and tables → into lines and text.
Move required content to model space. Anything in a paper-space layout will not appear.
Clean up stray geometry near origin (0,0). Leftover points or lines far from your actual drawing area distort how Infrakit frames the map.
Re-export and upload. Then check the map.
If you do these five things, most drawings will render correctly.
3. Debugging: my drawing still isn't right
Work through this in order. Most issues resolve before the last step.
Is anything showing at all?
Nothing at all → check the file is DWG/DXF and not empty, and that content is in model space (step 4 above). Re-export and retry.
Some content shows, some missing → continue.
Is the missing content on a hidden layer? Turn layers on, re-export, retry. (Most common single cause.)
Are the missing items splines, dimensions, tables, or invisible-flagged entities? Apply the matching fix from the table in section 1, re-export, retry.
Is the drawing tiny, mislocated, or zoomed wrong? Look for stray geometry near origin (0,0); remove it, re-export, retry.
Is required content in a paper-space layout? Move it to model space, re-export, retry.
Still wrong after all of the above? Contact Infrakit support and include:
the original file (or a link to it),
a screenshot of how it should look (from your CAD software),
a screenshot of how it looks in Infrakit,
which specific elements are wrong or missing.
Support can run additional repair steps on the file and, where the issue is a genuine gap in Infrakit, route it to the product team.
4. What to expect
Many files work immediately.
Many of the rest work after the five preparation steps in section 2.
A small number involve CAD features Infrakit does not yet support. Support will tell you which, help where possible, and log the gap for future development.
Visualization quality depends heavily on how the drawing was authored and exported. When in doubt, send it to support — we would rather look at the file than have you guess.
Tip: Our team has also built a simple to use DWG/DXF Prepping tool - our team uses this tool to make data visualize for you in Infrakit, but you can also try it yourself by downloading it from our Power Tools Marketplace