Spectrum Spatial versus FME Server Software...

[Nick]

All,

Does anyone have experience with Spectrum Spatial and/or FME Server Software?  I am in the process of analyzing both pieces of software to make the decision on which one to purchase by the end of the calendar year.  

After my initial overview of both, it appears to be my take that FME is much more flexible and has much more functionality than Spectrum Spatial.  However, I am looking to anyone else to offer up their opinions (if they have experience in this area)

I am looking for the ability to do spatial queries against MapInfo .TAB files, allowing my client-side Javascript to make server side calls that return information to the client.  

If anyone can help in adding anymore details or opinions I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Nick

[Bo Victor Thomsen]

You might do a check of GDAL/OGR, which is an open-source library to convert spatial vector- and raster-files. This includes a sql - based query method that might be handy in your case. The query result could (for example) be returned as geojson data. It has bindings to several languages. And it free as in "free beer" and in "free speech" (MIT license)

If you want spend money I can recommend FME. It covers almost all the bases in spatial data handling and I have used it a lot in the past. I don't know Spectrum Spatial. 

Regards
Bo Victor Thomsen
Aestas-GIS
Denmark

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[Nick]

Bo,

Thanks for the quick reply.  I have heard of the GDAL/OGR open-source library.  I have been leanining more towards FME Server as well; however, since I am a beginner at the FME server software I was just trying to gather opinions.

The Spectrum Server software is still very new, and I don't think that it will be as open as FME's data translations are (considering FME handles over 100+ formats; whereas, I am not sure how "open" Spectrum Server will truly be in the end.  

Thanks again, and anyone else that has any opinions or insight, please feel free to share!

Nick

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

Hi Nick

Admitted, I don't know FME that well.

But to me it seems as if your are comparing apples and bananas.

Spectrum Spatial is so much more than an ETL (Extract Transform & Load) system which is the space in which I see FME - please correct me if I'm wrong.

Spectrum Spatial which actually is a bundling of a number of modules contains besides the standard Location Intelligence Module also the Routing Module and the Geocoding Module and as far as I remember theEnterprise Data Integration Module.

With the latest release you also get Spectrum Spatial Analyst which is a webGIS application similar to MapInfo Stratus.

With the Enterprise Designer you can create your own workflows that you can publish as REST and/or SOAP services to be consumed by your web application - or any other application.

And that's just Spectrum Spatial.  Besides that you'll find a number of other modules that will let you integrate into your existing business systems - if you need to

Here is the documentation page for Spectrum incl. Spectrum Spatial:

http://support.pb.com/ekip/index?page=product_content&cat=SC_SPECTRUM_TECHNOLOGY_PLATFORM

As a final note I must state that I work for Pitney Bowes and therefor I might be more positive towards Spectrum ;-)

And of course it all depends on your needs 

Peter Horsbøll Møller

Pitney Bowes Software

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Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 13:41:22 -0700
From: nicke...@gmail.com
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MI-L] Spectrum Spatial versus FME Server Software...

[Eric Blasenheim]

Nick,

As Peter said, FME Server and Spectrum Spatial are not targeted to the same audience

 

I am the Technical Product manager for Spectrum Spatial just so you know.

Safe software is our partner as it is to many GIS and Spatial companies. We use FME server ourselves. There is a slight amount of overlap but Spectrum Spatial (which includes routing and geocoding) is focused on supplying the building blocks for web mapping applications and the spatial backend (web services) for spatial querying as well as spatial data management which is high on our roadmap. You can also integrate Spatial query capabilities into data flows somewhat like FME but if you look beyond the icons, we are quite different.

 

FME Server and Spectrum Spatial are not in competition. Some of the spatial geoprocessing may overlap but we are used mainly for analysis. In addition to the ability to query data via an datasource independent interface (which it sounds you want) you can build custom services that can be queried as well. All are easily accessible from Javascript via REST api (or SOAP if you prefer).  TAB files as well as SHP, SQL Server, Oracle, PostGIS and generic JDBC are supported out of the box and an extensible data provider interface is available for anything else. We use this ourselves to support SAP HANA as well as a BI independent interface for our Spectrum Spatial for BI product.

 

If you have questions, feel free to contact me or look on the website. On this list, you will mostly find MapInfo Professional help.

 

Eric Blasenheim

Pitney Bowes Software

[Nick]

Pete & Eric 

Thank you both very much for your responses. I appreciate the time you took to be descriptive.  I am currently awaiting the 30-day trial for Spectrum Spatial.  I signed off on the paperwork yesterday (8/12), and I am just awaiting word back from PBBI.  

Thanks again.  I will let you know how the trial period goes as it progresses.

Nick

[Mats Elfström]

Hi Nick!

Before you go for FME Server, be sure to explore FME Desktop first. 

It is the most versatile and independent spatial data processing tool on the market. Actually without comparison. I tried to read up on Spectrum Spatial when the question arose, but I must confess I do not even understand what it does. Important point, though: neither is a geodatabase. That is important. 

Hälsning / Regards

Mats.E

Skickat från min / Sent from my iPhone, Ursäkta att jag är kortfattad / Excuse my brevity. 

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[Mathew Linnane]

Hi Nick,

 

I have experience in implementing both Spectrum Spatial and FME Server.

 

I would like to echo the comments below, where the key differentiator is that Spectrum Spatial is designed to provide enterprise web mapping services to specifically support the development of interactive web mapping solutions.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Image1 : Spectrum Spatial Analyst powered by Spectrum Spatial

 

 

FME Server is most suited to support the development of enterprise Extract Translate & Load (ETL) solutions such as “clip-and-ship” data sharing functionality.

 

Image2 : FME Data distributor powered by FME Server

 

 

In some cases, you may have specific end user requirements that necessitate the need to implement both Spectrum and FME servers to provide advanced end user capability within a bespoke solution.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Cheers.

 

Regards,

 

Mathew Linnane

Senior Spatial Consultant

Pitney Bowes Software

Synergy Business Centre

15 Tench Street Kingston ACT 2604

0417 418 690 - mathew....@pb.com

 

 

From: mapi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mapi...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mats Elfström

Sent: 14 August 2014 6:28 AM
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com

[Bo Victor Thomsen]

It's been a while since I have looked at the differences in licensing for FME Desktop and FME server. But at that point of time in the past SAFE Software didn't allow the use of FME Desktop in a server environment.

But to sum it up:

Spectrum Spatial seems to be a spatial infrastructure system "Bag in a box" with all the bells and whistles to store, retrieve, analyse and visualize spatial data. Like a row of similar systems like Boundless's OpenGeo bundle (GeoServer),  Autodesk's Infrastructure Map Server (MapGuide) or similar solutions from ESRI. So these solutions are appropriate if you don't have some kind spatial infrastructure already.

As Mathew wrote: FME is primarily a first-class ETL tool, but can be used to do some very advanced analyses on datasets in a lot of _different_ formats.

But I will repeat my first recommendation: If you already have some kind of spatial infrastructure and simply miss a SQL based query tool to extract data for showing on a web-page, then have a look at GDAL/OGR.

Regards
Bo Victor Thomsen
Aestas-GIS
Denmark