Safe Software Marks Tenth Anniversary of First Purchase of FME by National Land Survey of Sweden and Swedesurvey
Vancouver, B.C. – January 8, 2007 – Ten years ago today Safe Software, the GIS industry’s leading provider of Spatial ETL (extract, transform and load) technology, made its first sale outside of North America, establishing itself as a global company. Safe’s FME® (Feature Manipulation Engine) technology was adopted by National Land Survey of Sweden (NLS) and its international arm, Swedesurvey, on January 8, 1997. Today FME is sold in over 100 countries and over 30 of the 170 formats supported by FME are country-specific formats.
National Land Survey of Sweden chose Safe Software’s format conversion and spatial data transformation tools to help manage and distribute their geospatial data. NLS initially became interested in FME in 1996, because it was the only solution that allowed NLS to efficiently export spatial data from their extensive ArcSDE database to a number of different formats, data models, and map projections.
In 2001 NLS further solidified its relationship with Safe Software by using FME technology to add multi-format read and write capability directly into their ArcObjects-based ArcCadastre application.
Over the past ten years NLS has also made extensive use of FME’s data transformation capability in the development of customized solutions for clients. In addition, Swedesurvey has been instrumental in introducing FME in numerous countries as part of cooperative land management projects undertaken by Swedesurvey worldwide.
Safe Software has a tradition of supporting Swedish national formats, including KF85, AutoKa FF, and most recently Interface 2000 (G2K), which is based on GML 3.1.1. FME’s support for G2K, and its ability to translate and restructure existing datasets into this common file format for cadastral data, has greatly facilitated data exchange between NLS and local Swedish governments.
When asked about his company’s history with FME, Hans-Erik Wiberg, President of Swedesurvey and former head of the Land and Property Data Division at National Land Survey of Sweden said, “We started to use FME in 1996, as we wanted an efficient tool to manage our national digital land and geographical data; the quantity of this information had begun to increase rapidly in the mid-1990s. Since 1996 we have used FME extensively, and we have also introduced FME in many countries in our overseas business.”
“Working with National Land Survey of Sweden throughout this past decade has been a great pleasure,” said Dale Lutz, VP of Product Development, Safe Software. “Our partnership with National Land Survey of Sweden has had enormous benefits for Safe Software. The complexity of the Swedish topography, particularly in coastal areas, together with National Land Survey of Sweden’s advanced expertise in manipulating their spatial data, have made them ideal partners to help us test and extend the capabilities of FME.”
More about National Land Survey of Sweden (Lantmäteriet)
Established 378 years ago, National Land Survey of Sweden is one of the senior survey authorities in Europe and has a long tradition of software development for geographic information systems and the management of geographic, land, and cadastral information. National Land Survey of Sweden’s three main activities also form the organizational structure: Cadastral services, Land and Geographic Information Services, and Metria (working on a competitive, commercial basis). For more information about National Land Survey of Sweden, visit www.lantmateriet.se.
More about Swedesurvey
Swedesurvey is a state-owned company that is internationally recognised for its innovative approach to land management and use of geospatial data. Swedesurvey provides clients throughout the world with customized solutions that meet not only the needs of today, but will also meet the challenges of tomorrow. Swedesurvey's full service support is often based on institutional co-operation and we have full access to all the resources of National Land Survey of Sweden. For more information about Swedesurvey, visit www.swedesurvey.se.
More about Safe Software and FME
Safe Software Inc. is the GIS industry’s leading developer of Spatial ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) technologies, providing both spatial data transformation solutions and professional services. Since 1993, Safe Software has focused on helping organizations enhance access to spatial data by providing software solutions that deliver seamless translation of nearly 200 GIS, CAD, and database formats.
Safe Software’s flagship product, FME, is an integrated collection of Spatial ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) tools for the distribution and transformation of location-based data. FME manages database loading, data extraction from legacy systems, merging multiple data sources, coordinate system conversion, and format to format translation for the exchange of map data. FME consists of four major components: a translation engine (FME Universal Translator), a graphical authoring environment (FME Workbench), a data inspection tool (FME Viewer), and application extenders that directly integrate into a variety of spatial applications. Visit www.safe.com for more information.
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For More Information:
Catherine Ducharme
Acting Director of Marketing
Safe Software Inc.
(604) 813-6104
catherine.ducharme@safe.com
FME and SpatialDirect are registered trademarks of Safe Software Inc.