Binding the McElhanney Universe Together: LiDAR, FME and Web GIS

McElhanney is an organization with almost 110 years of history and while that history has helped foster the culture of quality products and experience which our clients know us for; it can mean some of our processes are stuck in the past. Such was the case with the way we procured, stored and disseminated LiDAR data. While technological advancements allowed us to communicate and work with colleagues from far and wide, our LiDAR data was still stored, accessed and maintained in different ways by different offices. Our solution to the problem was to provide an easily accessible web mapping solution which would allow our staff to quickly search, order, and download authoritative LiDAR data without having to wait on other offices or local colleagues. While the solution sounded simple enough, we ran into many roadblocks along the way. These problems are where our presentation focuses because FME was the solution. Whether it be from integrating FME with SQL Server through database triggers, adding scripts to the scheduler on FME Server to provide e-mail progress notifications to users or automating our ordering process with a third party, FME was the force which bound the entire project together.