The SICAD Converter Suite comprises a number of components for the transfer of data from and to SICAD/open and SICAD/SD. The Reader and Writer components of the SICAD Converter Suite use FME® (Feature Manipulation Engine).
FME is a product of Safe Software Inc. ( Surrey , BC Canada ), a company that has been working in the field of conversion of geodata for more than 10 years.
FME allows for the conversion of geodata from one format to another. Geodata can then be analyzed and verified. Apart from an automatic transfer, the data conversion can be parameterized. It allows for a precise migration from the source data structure to the target data structure.
FME consists of a core plus various readers and writers that are partly produced by Third Parties. For the reading and writing of SICAD formats, AED-SICAD offers the corresponding tools.
Among the supported formats, there are, among others, Autodesk AutoCAD DXF/DWG, ESRI® Shape and E00, MapInfo MIF/MID and TAB, Microstation DGN, Oracle Spatial Object, but also standard formats like GDF, XML und GML. Relational databases can be accessed via ODBC.
During the conversion, data can be processed using the numerous “functions and factories”. A new attribute “length”, for example, can be created via the function “calculate length”, or you may create areas and topologies. Thereby, data can be processed during the conversion. FME may also be used for testing data.
A central element is the “Mapping file”, which contains the control of the conversion. Here, the assignment rules are strictly fixed and the “functions and factories” to be used are defined in a Factory Pipeline. Once the assignment rules have been defined, they can be applied to all similar datasets (also as batch processing).
For SICAD/open data in SQD format, AED-SICAD provides an SQD Reader and an SQD Writer. The C60 Reader or C60 Writer, respectively, may be used for SICAD/SD data. SICAD data can be read with the SQD or C60 Writer, processed in FME with “functions and factories” and then written into the FME supported formats.
The SQD or C60 Writer creates SQD or C60 data from formats that can be read with FME.
Apart from the SQD Reader, a GDS Reader is available, providing direct access to data in the GDB.
FME and the SICAD Converter Suite can be used for the conversion of SICAD data to ArcGIS®. Apart from that, they are excellent tools for writing external formats into the existing GIS (e.g. ArcGIS or SICAD) or to convert own data (from ArcGIS or SICAD) in order to transfer them to external formats (e.g. dxf).
