Can I have the equivalent of a Ps 'smart object' in Ai which I can keep updating in Ps?

Question

I've scanned in some maps, and I'm regularly adding little touches here and there to each map in Photoshop. Each map has a few Ps layers and is not vector.

For all the annotations, I'm using Illustrator, because it's better for the job with its typography tools.

In Ps, I can drag some graphics/layers in from Ai and it becomes a single 'vector smart object' so whenever I want to edit that graphic, it opens in Ai and updates in Ps when I save.

How do I have the equivalent of this in Illustrator? I have a multilayered graphic which I want to keep opening and editing in Ps but still keep at the exact same size and position in the Ai document (to keep the annotations accurate)?

Answer 1

File > Place did exactly what I wanted to do! Thanks to the user who commented above - I couldn't mark that as the right answer for some reason.

Answer 2

A similar method of creating "Smart Objects" in AI is by using Symbols.

Say you have an object that you've created. In this case, I made a smiley face.

With entire object selected, open your Symbols Palette and click the New Symbol button.

Configure your symbol's options and click Ok.

This adds your object to the palette, as a symbol. You can then drag out as many copies of your newly created symbol and transform them as you please.

To edit your symbol, double click on its icon in the Symbols Palette and it will behave the same as doing that in PS does with smart objects; you will see that AI opens your symbol in Isolation Mode.

You can make whatever changes you want to here. In the case above, I made one eye blue. When finished, you can simply double-click outside your object to exit Isolation Mode. You will see your changes propagated throughout your document.