Adds additional format support for more than 100 GIS, CAD, BIM/3D, and database formats for reading and writing.

Direct Read

• The ability to directly read and use this format is ArcGIS for visualization, mapping, and analysis

Data Import

• The ability to import data from this format into a personal or file geodatabase using the Quick Import tool or a custom Spatial ETL tool

Data Export

• The ability to export data to this format using the Quick Export tool or a custom Spatial ETL tool

Quick import and Quick Export tools allow automated data translation between formats.

The following tools can be used to easily convert data to and from specific formats:

Quick Import Tool

• This tool enables you to convert input data formats to a personal or file geodatabase.  Use this tool in a model to convert your data to a personal or file geodatabase for further data processing and editing features.
• This tool can be run stand alone or as part of a geoprocessing model, script-to-script tool.
• This tool uses a default mapping file to perform the translation.

Quick Export Tool

• This tool enables you to convert data between formats.  You can use this tool in a model to convert your data to many different formats for delivery to end users.
• This tool can be run stand alone or as a part of a geoprocessing model, script-to-script tool.
• This tool uses a default mapping file to perform the translation.

Use the Workbench application, an integrated semantic translation engine, to create custom format definitions and data transformation tools that easily support your complex data models.

Spatial ETL

Spatial data may be located in a variety of different data formats, schemas, and disparate systems.  Spatial extract, transform, and load (ETL) capabilities enable organizations to overcome interoperability challenges by providing accurate and well-defined spatial data to their users when they need it.

ETL allows you to:

• Extract the spatial data from a source system.
• Transform the data into the format and data model required by the target system.
• Load the data into the target system.

Spatial ETL means you can extract, transform, and load spatial data.  Spatial ETL is often referred to as data transformation or semantic data translation.  A data transformation enables you to control the data flow by mapping geometry and attributes in the source data to geometry and attributes in the destination.  This process may include a change in coordinate system, spatial feature type, or the attribute schema.  This preserves the data integrity while making it accessible to end users.

Workbench Application for Data Transformation

Safe Software's FME Workbench application is included with the ArcGIS Data Interoperability Extension.  It provides a visual diagramming environment with more than 240 transformers that enable you to transform both geographic and attribute information.  You can use the Workbench application in two ways.

1. Create custom formats to transform data on the fly.
2. Create custom spatial ETL tools for transformating data as you create new data sources.

Creating Custom Formats

You can create new custom formats from any of the supported base formats by applying transformers to manipulate the attribute and geometric information stored within the file.  You can use a single data source as the input or combine a multitude of formats.  This data transformation takes place on the fly, allowing you to integrate data in the data model you need without converting it.

Full Integration to the Geoprocessing Environment

Formats supported by the ArcGIS Data Interoperability extension can be used as inputs for the geoprocessing tools.  The output from core geoprocessing operations will be standard Esri formats.

The ArcGIS Data Interoperability Extension also adds a new Data Interoperability Tools toolbox to ArcGIS for Desktop that contains two new conversion tools-Quick Import and Quick Export-for simple automated conversions.

You can combine all this functionality within a single geoprocessing model.  For example, the model to the right shows the use of a non-Esri data format, MapInfo, as the input to the Buffer core geoprocessing tool.  The resultant dataset is then exported to three different formats using the Data Interoperability Quick Export tool.  This model demonstrates how you can read data and distribute analysis results in non-Esri formats.