FME Reviews

I use two versions currently. The latest version that's just come out and the 2022 versions.

Currently, I'm using the solution to pull APC data using the data collection. I've got to transform the data massively to make it usable, so I use FME for huge amounts of transformation and to put it into ArcGIS Enterprise. FME is a ZTL as well, specifically the "L" bit. I also use FME for a lot of analysis where we want it quick and efficient on big datasets that ArcGIS Pro is unrealistic to do on.

I also use FME, where if somebody sends me a spreadsheet where, for example, we would need to get everything in capital letters, it's quicker for me to capitalize everything in FME Workbench than it is in Excel.

I can use FME for just about everything, from logging processes to looking at file structures, what's changed in file structures, what people are doing, or what they've updated. It's not just need-to-know. It's a massive piece of software that's also coded in Python. What FME can't do, I then write in Python.

I can make FME pull in ArcPy, which means that for every single thing that ArcGIS Pro can do, I can make FME. It's much bigger than the box.

When I do coding, I think about every single function. Some of these functions can be very elementary, like doing a substring or some capitalization. But FME removes all that coding because it's a transformer, so the time to develop an application to get to a point where you're producing results is decreased massively. It used to take weeks and months to develop software, and now I can use something like FME, and within one day, we get results. We can look at and validate data. We make minor subtle changes to the workbenches to improve it. We can share the workbenches. We don't have to use GitHub or anything else.

The use cases for FME are mainly integration to the GE Smallworld product. GE Smallworld is a GE product, and we are using it to integrate with other third-party products into GE Smallworld and ADMS systems.

The feature regarding automation capacity for scheduling data processing tasks is mainly used by one of our customers, Vodacom, and they are doing the automated exchange. That is very useful for them. It's only one of my customers that's using it. That's their business requirement to do real-time data exchange.

From my reseller perspective, the best features in FME are the ease of operation and the fact that it works. They are developing the necessary plugins to third-party products, so it's easy to use and very well-developed and usable.

The extensive format support, which covers over 400 file formats in the product, is essentially one of the reasons why we are using it.

Regarding the advanced spatial data capabilities, I don't know the technical details directly, as I'm more on the sales side. FME manages large volumes of spatial data in sectors such as GIS and environmental analysis effectively. It performs well and doesn't have issues in managing big loads of data.

Primary use cases include: creating automatic data flow processes, enabling users to self-serve their data needs, and handling real-time events. It is a fault-tolerant, scalable multi-tier solution, so it has backup facilities. One can use a multi-server setup with a database. We can download data, start processes, update databases, send messages, tweets, push notifications, and almost everything in a few clicks. With spatial data, it has almost no competitors.

FME handles all ETL processes, refreshes data, and produces reports and dashboards. 

Automated data enrichment and analysis using the setups we use are great for just doing the jobs by hand. 

We easily share data and workspaces among users in a secure setup with managed authorizations, connected to Active Directory. 

There is even a hosted solution, where one does not have to worry about having the appropriate server environment. All that is required is selecting a platform version, data storage region, performance type, and need for data space and ignite!

FME is used to transfer GIS data from either on-premise into the cloud or between the primary servers and disaster recovery. We use it in various different ways.

FME is spatially aware and understands how to deal with the conversion of spatial objects and their attributes. It is a well-established product for handling geospatial data, transfer, and ETL processes. It helps automate workflows for GIS customers, making it a standard in the industry.

We use FME in geographical data analysis where a lot of sources or processes are involved.

The most valuable feature of FME is the graphical user interface. There is nothing better. It is very easy to debug because you can see all steps where there are failures. Overall the software is easy to optimize a process. 

There's a map in the graphical user interface that helps in assessing whether you are processing data correctly in the geographical transformations.

We use FME to manage network infrastructure for Smallworld Database.

FME integrates well with various systems. It has standard plug-ins available for different data sources.

We use FME to do some ad hoc analysis, especially facial analysis, but they use it as well to do some generic processing for data quality controls. These are the main use purposes. It's in a governmental context and the most important data sets or addresses link to other information. Also authentication on partials.

FME's features that I have found most valuable are that it has a very friendly user interface. You don't need to use a lot of code. For us, that's the most important aspect of it. Also, it has a lot of connectors and few forms. It has a strong facial aspect. It can do a lot of facial analysis.