Swiss Canton Significantly Improves Data Sharing Efficiency with FME Server

Commissioned by GeoGR Inc, the public-private partnership of the Graubünden region's surveyors, developers, and cantonal authorities, the data access system not only makes the Region's spatial data more accessible to users, but also benefits data authors by eliminating the need for them to manually process user requests. Instead, the data they create within their existing infrastructure is automatically gathered through scheduled batch updates and stored in a central database for access by users via the system's self-service web user interface.

"The biggest fear of the data authors in our area was that our new system would force them to change their spatial data storage infrastructures," says Peter Huser, CEO of GeoGR Inc. "Using FME Server, we were able to centralize our area's geo-related data and make it accessible to users while leaving our existing databases intact."

Using GeoGR's application, data users can access the Region's spatial data using a free online viewer and then select the specific data they wish to purchase. When a purchase request is placed, FME Server translates and restructures the selected data on-the-fly into the user's required format and data model, and makes the output dataset available for download in the web interface. Alternatively, users can select an "off the shelf" dataset which has been pre-processed by FME Server in a variety of formats that GeoGR has identified as being commonly requested.

"GeoGR needed a single system that could provide users with immediate access to all of the Region's geographic data. FME Server has made this possible, and even enabled system users to get the data exactly how they want it," says Flavio Hendry, CEO of TYDAC Inc., the Safe Software reseller in Switzerland who developed the GeoGR data access system. TYDAC based the system on its own solution, Neapoljs Mercato, which combines several products' capabilities to deliver customized data access systems for TYDAC's customers.

Moving forward, GeoGR will be able to continue supporting users' data accessibility needs as they change. FME Server can be scaled to meet increasing demands during peak times by simply adding engines as required, without needing to interrupt the system with a restart. Additionally, as new requirements are identified for the data users, system managers can quickly create new "off-the-shelf" datasets and add new formats to the system's output options list from FME Server's growing list of over 200 supported formats.

"During implementation we were impressed by FME Server's surprisingly fast performance and how easy it was to use for remodeling data structures," says Huser. "We're also pleased to know that when we're ready to expand the system, we will be able to adapt accordingly with zero interruption to our existing processes."

The TYDAC-built Neapoljs Mercato system that GeoGR's data access system is based on can be experienced first-hand by visiting mercato.mapserver.ch. For a more in-depth look at the GeoGR project's use of FME Server in a case study, visit www.safe.com/GeoGR. To learn more about how FME Server can help organizations efficiently share their spatial data, please visit www.safe.com/FMEServer.