DGN (design) is the name used for

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

file format A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free. Some file format ...

s supported by

Bentley Systems Bentley Systems, Incorporated is an American-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure. The compan ...

MicroStation MicroStation is a CAD software platform for two- and three-dimensional design and drafting, developed and sold by Bentley Systems and used in the architectural and engineering industries. It generates 2D/3D vector graphics objects and elements an ...

and

Intergraph Intergraph Corporation was an American software development and services company, which now forms part of Hexagon AB. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the ...

Interactive Graphics Design System Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

(IGDS) CAD programs. The DGN format is used in construction projects, including buildings, highways, bridges, process plants, shipbuilding. DGN is a competing format to

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartere ...

's DWG.

Versions

There are two versions of DGN: * Intergraph Standard File Formats (ISFF) specification, published in the late 1980s by Intergraph. This is sometimes referred to as V7 DGN, or Intergraph DGN. *In 2000, Bentley Systems created an updated version of DGN which includes a superset of DGN's capabilities, but which has a different internal data structure to the ISFF-based DGN. This version is properly referred to as V8 DGN.

History

In 2003 OpenDWG™ Alliance (now Open Design Alliance), a non-profit industry consortium committed to promoting open industry-standard formats for the exchange of CAD data, and

, Incorporated, announced that the Alliance will support V8 DGN. Bentley increased its membership level to become the Alliance's first supporting member. The Open Design Alliance provides Teigha for files (old name is DGNdirect) - a development platform available using C++ that is used with files and other graphics files. In 2008 Autodesk and Bentley agreed on exchange of software libraries, including Autodesk RealDWG, to improve the ability to read and write the companies' respective DWG and DGN formats in mixed environments with greater fidelity. In addition, the two companies were to facilitate work process interoperability between their AEC applications through supporting the reciprocal use of available

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

s (APIs).

References

External links

OpenDGN
- Bentley's OpenDGN initiative
Teigha
- a software development platform used to create engineering applications including

with native support of

.dwg DWG (from ''drawing'') is a proprietary binary file format used for storing two- and three- dimensional design data and metadata. It is the native format for several CAD packages including DraftSight, AutoCAD, BricsCAD, IntelliCAD (and i ...

and .dgn files.
Microstation 95/ISFF Description (pdf)
- Information on the ISFF/DGN file format as distributed with Microstation 95.

- Intergraph Standard File Formats (Element Structure) CAD file formats {{CAD-software-stub