Question of the Week: How did you first get into using FME? (Bingo Square 23)

I first used FME in my SAIT GIS program. I was actually really surprised when I found out my workplace had it when I started (a small municipal government, very small GIS and IT team).

We’re just getting into really utilizing it, and I feel very rusty 😅

I started two years ago based on job necessity. The boss asked me my first day if I had used FME before and set me up with the FME Academy when he found out I hadn’t. I’ve been a daily user ever since! 

I first started using FME in 2017, shortly after starting my first full-time data job. At the time, we received data from 30-40 customers in many different formats and needed to translate the data into MapInfo Tab files. Before FME, it was all done manually. Eventually, I moved a lot of our GIS data into ArcGIS Online, and used FME to update data there too

FME has been used within Ordnance Survey for many years, so it was seemingly inevitable that I’d be introduced to it at some point.  I believe that I first came across it during my time in the OS Research team, as I recall that my first FME training course (in Bromsgrove, UK) was undertaken then.  That may have been twenty years ago!

I learned FME around 2002 when we were converting Intergraph MGE data into the old Autodesk MapGuide 5.x product, and slowly started using it for most ETL (spatial and non-spatial) processes after that.  Today FME touches almost all aspects of our Asset Management/GIS operations.

​@todd_davis can recount this story almost as well as I can!

I had been working at a GIS firm for a year part time (whilst finishing my Post Graduate Diploma in GIS) before starting full time with them. Not long after I became full time Todd joined us and we were promised expertise in this tool called FME.

None of us had really heard of this tool before. I remember after Todd giving us a bit of an intro to it, I said “Why would I need FME when I have ArcGIS Model Builder?”

Well, that was 12 years ago, and the rest is history 🙃

Thanks Todd!

A coworker suggested that FME might be the easiest solution for a nightly process that required reading data from a spreadsheet and updating information in a database. I’ve been hooked ever since.

I was introduced to FME at my first job after college. In my first workspace, data was imported from SQL Server and converted to the file geodatabase format for ArcGIS Server. It was really impressive how easy and intuitive the editing process was.

The first time I heard about FME was in a project that was drafting a possible data platform for administrative use. Soon our GIS colleagues showed us FME where one can literally see 👀 data flowing through - which was kinda “magical moment” 😄

my first usecase/workspace is still running as an automation on FME Flow *so proud* 😊

Id heard about FME during university but didn’t know what it was and never had the chance to use it. I was properly introduced to it when I started my first GIS job, and I haven’t stopped using it since!

Joining an organisation rebuilding civil infrastructure in Christchurch, NZ in 2014.  We used FME for everything and I never looked back.

Also from the development tree of ​@todd_davis !

I started with FME back in 2013 as part of a college course pivoting my career into all things spatial! Not looked back since!

During my first internship, 1997, I had to use FME to convert some data so I could add it to a map I was making. Turned out one of the other people working at that place was part-timing as a distributor. I had some questions, he told me to email some guy named Dale. The rest is history.

Still have that map by the way, I gave a copy to my grandparents and they framed it, then when they both passed away I inherited it. I should put it up in my home 😊

I first got into FME during my during job. They are using ArcGIS in combination with FME to provide maps and data for the rest of the organization and also a few for public use. I’ve learnt FME on the job, and I was really enthusiastic about it. Haven't stopped using it since.

Started using FME with my current job at Consortech, and have loved using it ever since! It feels really nice to work with public services and feel how impactful that software can be :)