Hello,
I have been managing CAD for MicroStation and ProejctWise systems at the Utilitiy I work for, and now am assisting with a review of bringing our old PowerMap up to date with Bentley Map. We use Smallworld GIS and the distribution team have requested that I ask some questions on their behalf.
Five years ago, Bentley had provided MDL and Macro customisations so that we could integrate with Smallworld via shapefiles I believe. My expectation today is that over five years any mechanism for interfacing to GIS systems would have vastely improved, negating the requirement for such customisations. We are particularily intersted in what import/extract functionality with smallworld is available.
Q. Do we have anyone here who has experience with exploring on the fly extracts from smallworld which will give better up to date data and streamline current tasks?
Some of the questions we will need to find answers to are;
- What interface between the two systems are availabe? Does it have bi-directional data exchange capability?
- Will Powermap need to sit live on a CITRIX platform to enable this to happen if or can they be stand alone machine system installs?
- Smallworld extracts can be done easily in various formats. What we would need to find out is how seamlessly Powermap can manipulate this data.
We would greatly appreciate any feedback to these enquiries :)
Cheers, Colin Weber
We do support both MapInfo files and ESRI shapefiles out of the box. We also support standard Oracle Spatial and SQL Server Spatial, out of the box. Each of these interfaces comes with their own rules. As for the WFS / WMS configurations, we also support those in a read mode, through Map and MicroStation ( WMS -> Raster Manager).
We also provide interfaces in Map, to accommodate FME from SafeSoft, that opens up other GIS interfaces.
As far as I know we do not support SmallWorld directly.
isn't Oracel Spatial not one of both lowest common denominator
Colin,
The base products that Jerry and Frank mention provide support for the common formats, but as this 2010 Press Release indicates, the Bentley Utility products provide ...better versioning support for Smallworld GIS data in import and export workflows. Let's see if we can get one of the Utility analysts to further explain this for you.
Colin,
Since you mention PowerMap several times, that product' development was stopped at V8i (SELECTseries 1) in 2010. The upgrade path is Bentley Map V8i. The current Utility products are all built on this Bentley Map edition.
IMHO I would check what both Bentley and Smallworld have done to support www.opengeospatial.org/standards
Like WFS or WMS, my favourites. Then you will find a future proven concept for an interface for both GIS systems.
We do support both MapInfo files and ESRI shapefiles out of the box. We also support standard Oracle Spatial and SQL Server Spatial, out of the box. Each of these interfaces comes with their own rules. As for the WFS / WMS configurations, we also support those in a read mode, through Map and MicroStation ( WMS -> Raster Manager).
We also provide interfaces in Map, to accommodate FME from SafeSoft, that opens up other GIS interfaces.
As far as I know we do not support SmallWorld directly.
Hi Colin,
Bentley Utilities Designer is the best solution for design workflows and bi-directional data exchange with GE Smallworld. Bentley Utilities Designer Live Data Exchange uses a plug-in architecture to move data from and to GE Smallworld. The plug-in can be customized to meet specific data modeling requirements. This is important since most Smallworld users have custom or semi-custom environments. In addition to that, you can create Smallworld versions on import or on export of your data depending on your workflow requirements.
Please contact your account manager for a demonstration.
Thanks,
Alfredo
Hi Colin,
You may want to take a look at Bentley Utilities Designer (www.bentley.com/.../Bentley+Utilities+Designer), which includes Bentley Map functionality, but also provides utility specific functions. In particular, it has the ability to export and import features, properties, relationships, and connectivity to and from Smallworld.
What kind of workflow are you trying to support? Do you want to do design work in the DGN file, or just view data from Smallworld?
Both Bentley Utilities Designer and Bentley Map have the capability to import and export a number of different file formats, including shapefiles and FME, but you will not be able to exchange network connectivity or relationships through them.
Certainly for Bentley Utilities Designer, and I think also for Bentley Map, there would be no requirement to run on Citrix.
Hope that helps,
Mike
Thankyou all for the respoonses. At this time our budget can not facilitate BUD.
Bentley 'PowerMap' supports "Faster XFM Feature engine API" and Bentley 'Map' supports this in addition to FME interoperability.
Q. I can find reference to FME for Smallworld support but nothing yet on this XFM solution. Is anyone able to confirm that FME is the significantly better option over the XFM engine? for instance, it seems to me that XFM requires considerably more customisation to affect a functional solution than FME would.
As a long term Bentley strategy, going to Bentley Map would pave the way for BUD. PowerMap is an obsolete product, but unless FME can offer a distinct advantage over XFM customisation, is a cheaper solution for us.