Hello FMEers,
Here's your Wednesday roundup of FME news...
The FME 2022 Reveal
You might have seen my FME 2022 Sneak Peeks, but yesterday we got the official reveal of FME 2022 from co-founders Don and Dale.
In case you missed it, the video shows a lot more of the new updates and functionality and is presented in the inimitable Don and Dale style. So go check it out.
12 New Features Blog Post
But if you prefer to read, rather than watch, the Safe Software blog has a new post that highlights 12 of the FME 2022 highlights.
Some of the items are all about Server, which I didn't cover that well in the sneak peeks, so you'll find them especially interesting.
The Amazing Clipper
The Clipper is listed on that blog post under "Specific Transformer and Format Improvements":
Clipper: New interface, parameters, algorithms, and better performance all around.While that's true, the lack of space in blog posts means it doesn't really give the full picture. That's why we're running a full webinar on the Clipper in the near future. In the meantime, check out this section from my recent Question-of-the-Week presentation:
It's a bit rambling because I'm trying to talk about the user's question and I only realized the new Clipper functionality would help when I was half-way through. But basically, the new "Overlapping Clippers" parameter is a big win here:
What I'm trying to do is clip out pieces of imagery that include a park. There are multiple clip boundaries and they overlap. The user originally applied a loop to read the raster multiple times, once per clip boundary. But in 2022 the Overlapping Clippers parameter lets us - as we might say - "read once-clip many times", with this result:
Hopefully, with this post, you'll be aware of this functionality before you need it - and not suddenly remember it by accident as I did!
AR and Digital Twins
Digital Twins seem to be a hot topic right now. In short, they are a virtual model of a physical asset. I think we've had that concept for a while, but now we also have a snappy name to go with it!
Anyway, the point here is that if you use Augmented Reality tools, you can compare the digital twin to its physical counterpart, while in the real world.
Confused? That's OK. Check out this video from my colleague Dmitri:
There he has a digital version of a pedestrian crossing, created from a scan on January 14th. By overlaying that digital model onto the AR camera view, he can see just how much the crossing markings have degraded in the last two months.
There's a webinar next week, Exploring Outdoor Infrastructure with AR, where I expect this sort of functionality will be demonstrated live, so go register for it now.
FME's Favourite Transformer
In case you missed it, the Favourite Transformer contest is underway. Remember this is a "bracket" style contest where you vote for your favourite transformer in a series of matchups.
As you can see, there are some close matchups (FeatureJoiner vs Dissolver is currently an exact tie) so your votes matter! You can find the bracket online. There's no need to sign up for anything, just click the Vote Now button.
First-round results will appear around midday on Friday, Vancouver time.
User News
Congratulations to various users who recently achieved FME Certified status. This includes Jarryd Hunter, Bálint Molnár, Stijn Hoeks, Dominique Berger, and long-time user Ekki Scheffler. Jarryd even got "the green one" - by which I mean Server certification - as well. Well done to you all.
I also noticed a job opening this week at Swiss partner, Inser. You'd be working with David Reksten, who's one of our official Community Champions and top of the reputation charts, and that's got to be worth a lot.
Another popular community member, Sigbjorn, mentions job opportunities in Norway too, in more of a developer position but tagged with FME. Le Mans in France is looking for a GIS person and FME is mentioned; and if you ever wanted to work in New York City, then here's your chance!
And there are FME workshops for URISA Texas members, April 18.
...and online training with Tensing in Europe too.
Don't Forget...
We're still open to abstracts for presentations at the FME User Conference later this year.
