User Spotlights

Welcome to our September FME Community User Spotlight. This month features a participant in the FME Grant Program, with a special focus on the meaningful work he’s doing with FME. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights! ⭐User Spotlight: Giorgi Kapanadze | ​@ezdanapak What company do you currently work for?Business and Technology UniversityWhat's your current job title?Associate ProfessorTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?As an Open Source advocate, I focus on comparing different spatial tools and finding the best tool for the job. I use FME alongside open-source solutions to handle complex data integration, automate workflows, and build seamless bridges between open-source ecosystem tools and proprietary formats.What inspired you to start using FME? I love exploring spatial technologies, especially open-source platforms. What inspired me to use FME was its incredible ability to integrate seamlessly with open tools (like QGIS, PostGIS, and Python) whil

Welcome to our May FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!This month’s spotlight is an FME Community Celebrity… User Spotlight: Takashi Iijima ​@takashi What company do you currently work for? I am a freelancer, not belonging to any company.What’s your current job role and title? FME ConsultantTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I've been using FME since 2008. At that time, I was working in Pragmatica Inc., which is my own company. It became a partner of Safe Software in 2015. In January 2019, the company joined with Pacific Spatial Solutions Inc. and the company succeeded the position of Safe partner. In the interim, I had been working consistently to spread FME, supporting FME users for about 10 years. But recently, at the end of March 2025, I left the company on good ter

Hi all! Welcome to our August FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights! ⭐User Spotlight: Drew Purzycki | ​@drewpurzycki What company do you currently work for?Timmons GroupWhat's your current job role and title?Senior Technical AnalystTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?A large portion of the projects I work on revolve around Esri's Utility Network and helping clients migrate their data and implement the solution for their organization. FME is extremely useful for transforming data from the Geometric Network data model to the Utility Network data model as well as assisting with data cleanup and standardization, automating iterative workflows, and conducting efficient QA/QC processes for our clients.Why did you join the FME Community?I can contribute a lot of my FME knowledge to the wizards who have com

Hi all! Welcome to our July FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights! ⭐User Spotlight: Fon Punnakanta | ​@panda What company do you currently work for?Bowman ConsultingWhat's your current job role and title?Data EngineerTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I design and develop FME workspaces to streamline data extraction and transformation, enabling seamless integration across industry-leading platforms such as Trimble, Esri, and Autodesk products. By building end-to-end automation pipelines, I connect field data collection directly to final reports, producing submission-ready outputs with minimal manual intervention. I also develop self-service tools through FME Flow Apps and configure webhooks and automated workflows that empower teams to work more efficiently, reducing bottlenecks and increasing over

Hi all! Welcome to our June FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights! ⭐User Spotlight: Arthur Bazin  / ​@arthur_bazin What company do you currently work for?arx iTWhat's your current job role and title?Senior GIS Expert Tell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I'm currently helping our customers improve their FME skills through training, while also developing workspaces for data integration. I particularly enjoy integrating FME with the amazing world of PostgreSQL + PostGIS. These two tools are really complementary and together can solve nearly all the data challenges I've encountered throughout my professional life.Why did you join the FME Community?Easily find the answer to all my questions. Discover new methods on how to use FME (sometimes in a weird way). Helping others.What tips do you have for users o

Hi all! Welcome to our May FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Zehra Koc  / ​@geoinspiration What company do you currently work for?virtualcitysystemsWhat's your current job role and title?Geodata ExpertTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I primarily work with CityGML data — things like adding attributes to buildings, fixing geometries, and handling raster tasks such as filtering, clipping, and mosaicking. Why did you join the FME Community?I joined the FME Community to find answers when I wasn't sure how to tackle certain tasks. My favourite archangels are ​@takashi, ​@itsmatt , and ​@daveatsafe. What tips do you have for users on how to get the most out of the FME Community?Daily following and using filters to get their point of interests.Tell us about some of the exciting use ca

Hi all! Welcome to our April FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Jacky Doyle / ​@jackyd What company do you currently work for?TasNetworksWhat's your current job role and title?GIS SpecialistTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I manage the GIS data for TasNetworks, we use the Esri Utility Network alongside other spatial and non-spatial data from multiple systems. I utilize FME to move data around between these systems and run analysis to help the business make better decisions.Why did you join the FME Community?The learn more and help others.What tips do you have for users on how to get the most out of the FME Community? Just get in there and ask a question, someone will have already done what you are trying to do, or something close enough, and you can usually find a way through t

Hi all! Welcome to our March FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Carl Von Stetten / ​@cfvonner What company do you currently work for?Central San (Central Contra Costa Sanitary District in Martinez, California)What’s your current job role and title?Lead GIS AnalystTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I design, implement, and maintain our various Enterprise geodatabases for wastewater collection and treatment.  FME has played a key role in every GIS platform migration or upgrade.  For the past several years, I've been using FME to create integrations between ArcGIS, Cityworks Asset Management, Oracle ERP, Oracle Permitting, SCADA, and other business systems.Why did you join the FME Community?Originally, it was to get help when I was stuck on something.  Now spend more time trying to

Hi all! Welcome to our February FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Carlos Silva / ​@arcvancouver What company do you currently work for?Vancouver Airport AuthorityWhat’s your current job role and title?GIS SpecialistTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I sling data non-stop! Whether it's downloading and reprojecting aerials for my CAD colleagues and consultants, or creating a spatial view of work orders in the terminal, there's lots to do.Why did you join the FME Community?For answers mostly when my questions are already online! ;)  Probably the best spot to find like-minded FME users that have similar issues or doing things that I’ve not yet tried out.What tips do you have for users on how to get the most out of the FME Community?Test and re-test; lots of different ways to process

Happy New Year! Welcome to our January FME Community User Spotlight. Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: David Runneals / ​@runneals What company do you currently work for?Cultivate GeospatialWhat’s your current job role and title?Sr. GIS ArchitectTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I use FME to get work done faster. From creating rapid prototypes that can be instantaneously deployed in production to automating data pipelines to helping write python that bulk assigns aliases to fields in SDE, there's not much that I haven't done with FME Form or FME Flow.Why did you join the FME Community?I joined it to share my knowledge and to grow from others.What tips do you have for users on how to get the most out of the FME Community?Ask a question and get several different answers, and it’s typically much faster than us

Welcome to our December FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we spotlight a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Paul Morris / ​@paul_m What company do you currently work for?Terracon, a 100 percent employee-owned consulting engineering firm.What’s your current job role and title?Data ScientistTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?I first started using FME almost ten years ago at an underground utility locating company to help create 30-40 ETL processes to extract utility data from clients into our own systems. Now, I work at Terracon, a civil engineering consulting firm. We use FME for a variety of automation and ETL processes involving a seemingly infinite number of formats. We have many FME workspaces to keep data up to date for projects, products, dashboards, and initiatives. FME has been excellent for checking data quality across

Welcome to our November FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: ​@j.botterill What company do you currently work for? 1Spatial in AustraliaWhat’s your current job role and title? Senior ConsultantTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? As part of our consulting services, we assess client requirements and identify their key challenges in order to deliver tailored integration solutions using FME Form and Flow. We offer strategic guidance on best practices and governance frameworks, enabling large organizations to maximize the value of their FME Platform investment. Our team supports the deployment of FME Flow Enterprise, often in distributed environments and we work with clients to install the FME engine closer to their data stores. To ensure ongoing success we del

Welcome to our October FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Alexandre Bizien @alexbizWhat company do you currently work for? VeremesWhat’s your current job role and title? Solutions Engineer and FME ExpertTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I’ve been working for almost ten years at a French FME reseller, where I’m involved in both technical and pre-sales activities, especially around FME Flow.My main role is providing support and technical expertise in French for the software. I also deliver training sessions on FME Form and FME Flow - more than a hundred sessions so far, with over 300 participants trained.Beyond training and support, I provide consulting, coaching, technical audits, and assistance around FME, and I serve as the FME Flow reference at Verem

Welcome to our September FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Marc Graham ​@mgg_beca What company do you currently work for? Beca Ltd., one of Asia Pacific’s largest independent advisory, design and engineering consultancies.What’s your current job role and title? Spatial Application SpecialistTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I manage our FME Flow and ArcGIS Enterprise deployments, while assisting with licensing, R&D, technical questions, integration challenges, and staff mentoring.We use FME for all types of ETL workflows, with an increasing focus on 3D/BIM integration challenges between different systems. The improvements in BIM-focused data types such as Revit, Navisworks, and IFC are highly appreciated in an AEC context. Moving data between syst

Welcome to our August FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Raghavendran Satyanarayanan ​@raghavendrans What company do you currently work for? PIXEL SOFTEK PVT Ltd.What’s your current job role and title? Director GIS PresalesTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? In my current position, as the Director GIS Presales at PIXEL SOFTEK, my role is deeply rooted in showcasing how advanced GIS solutions can address complex challenges for our clients. A significant part of my work for the past 25 years has been leveraging FME to devise niche data transformation and integration solutions with focus on complex geospatial big data. I use FME extensively for data integration, transformation, and interoperability across various Open Source and COTS geospatial platforms an

Welcome to our July FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Clifford Rutledge ​@crutledge What company do you currently work for?Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) | BeSpatial OntarioWhat's your current job role and title?TRCA: Solutions Analyst, GIS and Data, BeSpatial Ontario: Program ManagerTell us more about what you do and how you use FME?At the TRCA, I help teams across Planning, Engineering, and Environmental services streamline how they access and share data. I use FME daily to build automated workflows that transform and integrate data from multiple sources, making it easier to use in web apps, field tools, and reporting systems.The TRCA has recognized the need for data integration, interoperability and the challenges of maintaining data in a data rich

Welcome to our June FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Liam Ferraby ​@liamfez What company do you currently work for? Charter CommunicationsWhat’s your current job role and title? GIS AnalystTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I work in the telecom industry and deal with large databases and data from various sources, some of which are spatial and plenty of which are not. FME has been a crucial tool for integrating data from all of the various sources and outputting files for engineers, other GIS users, and executives. I also rely on FME Server (we are not yet using FME Flow) to automate various export tasks and create scheduled reports.Why did you join the FME Community?I joined to both increase my knowledge of FME and to connect with other FME users. Wh

Welcome to our June FME Community User Spotlight!Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!User Spotlight: Matt Smillie ​@virtualcitymatt What company do you currently work for? Virtual City SystemsWhat’s your current job role and title? Project Manager of FME Workflows (aka FME Guy)Tell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I currently work in the 3D city model/digital twin space. The company I work for (Virtual City Systems) has built an out-of-the-box solution on top of CesiumJS for visualizing a 3D city scene.Along with the front end visualization, we also have a back end component, which handles conversion from typical formats (e.g., CityGML) into Cesium supported formats (3D Tiles,  QMesh Terrain, etc). In addition to conversions, the back end also acts as an interactive configuration platform, from which t

Every month, we’re celebrating the energy and expertise that our community members continue to bring to the FME Community with our Community Leaderboard recap. Every question asked, answer shared, and idea submitted adds to the collective strength of our knowledge base - and we love seeing your efforts reflected in our monthly leaderboard!From helping others on the Forums to sharing product suggestions and earning new certifications, here's a look at the standout contributors from April. Let’s dive in and see who made the top of the charts this month!Top Contributors on the FME Community Leaderboard April 2025 Points Leaderboard We're excited to recognize the top 10 contributors from our April leaderboard, earning the most points last month:​@danilo_fme: 2513 points ​@takashi: 1745 points ​@crutledge: 1356 points ​@nielsgerrits: 1019 points ​@hkingsbury: 961 points ​@virtualcitymatt: 779 points ​@redgeographics: 750 points ​@geomancer: 713 points ​@liamfez: 688 points ​@ebygomm: 680 po

​@david_r and I took an FME trip on the Monorail then went up the Seattle Sky Needle

Welcome to our May FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!In anticipation of the Peak of Data & AI 2025 coming up on May 6-8, we’ll be featuring speakers from the Peak over the next three months in our spotlights.User Spotlight: Jelle De Zwaef ​@jelle What company do you currently work for? NordendWhat’s your current job role and title? Founder, General ManagerTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I work as a data and process consultant with a strong focus on spatial information. FME is my platform of choice to bring structure to complex data, automate repetitive tasks, and design clear, reliable workflows.I often work at the intersection of technical teams and decision-makers. FME helps me translate between those worlds by making data tangible and workflows transparent.

We're trying something new - a monthly community leaderboard recap! This will not only celebrate the users on the leaderboard but also highlight those who are active and contributing to the FME Community. Your engagement is what makes this community thrive, and we want to recognize everyone who plays a part.Top Contributors on the FME Community Leaderboard March 2025 Points Leaderboard We're excited to recognize the top 10 contributors from our March leaderboard, earning the most points last month:​@crutledge: 1175 points ​@j.botterill: 904 points ​@nielsgerrits: 835 points ​@danilo_fme: 745 points ​@ebygomm: 653 points ​@redgeographics: 651 points ​@fmelizard: 550 points ​@geomancer: 502 points ​@hkingsbury: 447 points ​@david_r: 322 pointsWhen you ask questions, engage in conversations, and provide answers, you help strengthen our community knowledge base - and earn points. Learn more here.March 2025 Answers LeaderboardThese users provided the most answers to Forum questions in March

Welcome to our April FME Community User Spotlight! Every month, we’ll be spotlighting a user in the community whose active participation and helpful contributions have been invaluable to the community. We’re excited to highlight their experiences and insights!In anticipation of the Peak of Data & AI 2025 coming up this May, we’ll be featuring speakers from the Peak over the next three months in our spotlights.User Spotlight: Christoph Dittmann ​@chditt What’s your name?Christoph DittmannWhat company do you currently work for? Deutsche Telekom IT GmbHWhat’s your current job role and title? Data EngineerTell us more about what you do and how you use FME? I started to work with FME some 10 years ago. At the beginning, the tasks were about simple format transformation and some customized end user data ingestion workflows.Today, additionally to the good old ETL workflows, the tasks also involve job orchestration within our SDI, as well as data integration of various systems via cloud se

Does the shape of connection lines in FME Workbench have an effect on the performance of the workspace? You bet!ALL PROOF IS in this video. With square corners, the data is slowed when it reaches the corner. It can become bunched up and affect the performance of each transformer it passes through.Curved lines have a similar effect, although not as severe because their corners aren't as sharp. However, they are longer lines, and so the data takes more time to pass through.Straight lines have the benefit of being the shortest line and having no corners. As you'll see in the video, they are by far the best way to speed up your workspaces.It's not mentioned, but also be careful not to cross connections. Features can collide at the crossing, knocking off some of their vertices or attributes.

We're trying something new - a monthly community leaderboard recap! This will not only celebrate the users on the leaderboard but also highlight those who are active and contributing to the FME Community. Your engagement is what makes this community thrive, and we want to recognize everyone who plays a part.Top Contributors on the FME Community Leaderboard February 2025 Points LeadersWe're excited to recognize the top 10 contributors from our February leaderboard, earning the most points last month:​@danilo_fme  ​@bwn  ​@crutledge  ​@geomancer  ​@nielsgerrits  ​@david_r  ​@ebygomm  ​@liamfez  ​@virtualcitymatt  ​@j.botterill When you ask questions, engage in conversations, and provide answers, you help strengthen our community knowledge base - and earn points. Learn more here.February 2025 Answers LeaderboardThese users provided the most Answers to Forum questions in February:​@bwn  ​@ebygomm  ​@liamfez  ​@j.botterill  ​@redgeographics  ​@worjak  ​@crutledge  ​@nielsgerrits  ​@david_r