Lab

In this section of the module, the instructor can walk students through the basic functionality of FME Workbench and FME Data Inspector. If your lab space permits it, students can follow along.

This content could instead be delivered as a lecture or as part of a lab, if the instructor prefers.

This section contains exercises that students will complete using FME Workbench and FME Data Inspector. It is designed for students to complete in a lab with instructor supervision or on their own time as an assignment.

Refer to the Lab Questions as you complete the exercises.

Learning Objectives

Conceptual

Students will learn:

1. FME Workbench is an application to graphically define a translation and the flow of data within it. The definition of a translation is known as a workspace and can be saved to a file for later use.
2. Quick translation is the technique of carrying out a translation generated by FME, without further editing.
3. The Generate Workspace dialog is the main method by which a quick translation can be set up in FME Workbench.
4. Data inspection is a technique for checking and verifying data before, during, and after a translation. The FME Data Inspector is a tool for inspecting data.
5. A schema describes a dataset’s structure, including its feature types, attributes, and geometries.
6. Schema editing is the act of editing the destination schema to better define what is required out of the translation.
7. The act of joining the source schema to the destination is called schema mapping. Differences between the two schemas lead to structural transformation.
8. Content transformation is the modifying of data content during a translation. In FME Workbench data transformation is carried out using objects called transformers.
9. Transformers are the building blocks used in FME Workbench. Each transformer has a specific function. They can be used alone in a simple workspace, or combined to create complicated processes.
10. Group-by processing is when FME transformers carry out transformations on a whole set of features at once, in contrast to feature-based processing, when transformations are carried out one feature at a time.
11. Working with spatial data requires setting and reprojecting data so they share a common coordinate system.
12. Partial runs allow you to only run part of a workspace, making debugging much easier.
13. FME Workbench users should follow best practices by using annotations and bookmarks to organize their workspaces so other users can understand them.

Skills

Students will gain the ability to...

1. Open a workspace in FME Workbench and run it
2. Start FME Workbench and set up a quick translation
3. Start the FME Data Inspector, and to open and add datasets
4. Navigate a dataset and to query features within it
5. Control Data Inspector symbology and display characteristics
6. Set background maps in the Data Inspector
7. Edit a writer schema
8. Restructure data by mapping a reader to a writer schema, both manually and through transformers
9. Locate transformers in Workbench and use them to transform data content
10. Set transformer parameters in either the Parameter Editor or transformer dialogs
11. Define feature groups using the Group-By option
12. Reproject data using Workbench