FME Geospatial Data Integration and ETL Automation Training Course

Course overview

GIS teams routinely receive data in incompatible schemas, coordinate systems and file formats: cadastral extracts, asset registers, spreadsheets, CAD drawings, imagery footprints, web services and field-capture feeds. Manual conversion in desktop GIS creates repeatable bottlenecks, weak audit trails and avoidable errors when datasets must be refreshed. This course addresses the practical need to design FME workflows that move, validate, transform and publish spatial data reliably across enterprise systems.

Participants work with FME Form to build reusable workspaces using readers, writers, transformers, attributes, parameters and logging. They learn to inspect source data, map schemas, reproject geometries, clean invalid features, join tabular and spatial datasets, apply business rules, process files in batches and write outputs for GIS databases, web services and delivery formats. The course also introduces controlled automation with FME Flow, including published parameters, schedules, notifications and workspace deployment.

Teaching combines short instructor demonstrations with guided builds based on realistic GIS integration scenarios. Participants progressively create an end-to-end ETL workspace that ingests mixed-format asset and boundary data, validates records, standardises attributes, produces exception outputs and publishes approved data to defined targets. They leave with a documented workspace package, a transformation design checklist and an automation plan that can be adapted to a live organisational process.

The course is suited to GIS professionals who need to replace repetitive data preparation with governed, repeatable workflows, as well as technical staff responsible for moving location data between operational, analytical and public-facing systems.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Build FME Form workspaces using readers, writers, transformers and feature connections
• Inspect source schemas and create attribute mappings for target data models
• Transform coordinate reference systems and geometry types using FME reprojection and geometry transformers
• Apply validation rules to identify null attributes, duplicate records and invalid geometries
• Join spatial and tabular datasets using key-based and spatial relationship methods
• Design batch-processing workflows with parameters, file naming conventions and reusable components
• Publish an FME workspace to FME Flow with user parameters, schedules and notification settings
• Produce a documented end-to-end GIS ETL workflow with exception outputs and operational handover notes

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• GIS Analysts — who repeatedly prepare, reconcile and deliver data from multiple source systems
• GIS Developers — who need to build maintainable spatial data transformation workflows without custom scripting
• Spatial Data Managers — who need governed, repeatable processes for data refresh and publication
• Data Engineers — who integrate location data with enterprise databases, APIs and analytics platforms
• Asset Information Officers — who consolidate asset registers, inspection data and mapped infrastructure records
• Remote Sensing and Earth Observation Analysts — who need to standardise imagery metadata, footprints and derived spatial outputs

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should be comfortable working with spatial datasets and understand basic GIS concepts, including layers, attributes, coordinate reference systems, vector geometry and common formats such as GeoPackage, Shapefile, CSV and GeoJSON. Experience using a desktop GIS application such as QGIS or ArcGIS Pro is helpful, as is familiarity with file paths and spreadsheet-style data tables. No programming, SQL, FME experience or prior automation experience is required. Complete beginners to FME should expect a practical introduction to the interface before moving into multi-step transformations and deployment concepts.

Training methodology

The instructor introduces each FME capability through a live workspace build, followed by individual hands-on exercises using supplied spatial datasets and target schemas. Participants test transformers, inspect feature counts and logs, and compare alternative methods for joins, validation and output writing. Short case discussions address operational choices such as error handling, parameter design and refresh scheduling. Each day closes with a practical build, and the final session includes peer review of an end-to-end ETL design plus a structured plan for applying it to a workplace data process.

Course outline

Day 1: FME foundations and spatial data inspection

• FME Form interface, workspace canvas and Navigator panel
• Readers, writers and feature type connections
• Source format inspection with the Visual Preview window
• Feature counts, cached data and workspace run diagnostics
• Attribute management with AttributeManager and AttributeCreator
• Coordinate reference system identification and dataset metadata
• Transformer search, documentation and parameter configuration

Workshop: Build a first workspace that reads GeoPackage, CSV and Shapefile inputs, inspects their schemas and writes a controlled GeoJSON delivery.

Day 2: Schema transformation and spatial data quality

• Target schema design and attribute mapping patterns
• Type conversion, null handling and date normalisation
• Geometry validation with GeometryValidator and Tester
• Duplicate detection using DuplicateFilter and grouping keys
• Coordinate transformation with CsmapReprojector
• Geometry restructuring with GeometryCoercer and GeometryExtractor
• Exception routing, rejected features and quality-control outputs

Workshop: Create a quality-assurance workflow that standardises an asset register, reprojects features and separates failed records into an exception dataset.

Day 3: Joining, enriching and processing spatial datasets

• Key-based joins with FeatureMerger and Joiner
• Spatial enrichment using SpatialFilter and PointOnAreaOverlayer
• Aggregation and summarisation with Aggregator and StatisticsCalculator
• Conditional routing with Tester and TestFilter
• String parsing and pattern matching with StringSearcher and RegularExpressionReplacer
• List attributes and one-to-many relationship handling
• Raster and imagery footprint metadata integration patterns

Workshop: Develop an enrichment workflow that assigns inspection points to operational zones, joins asset attributes and produces zone-level summary tables.

Day 4: Reusable ETL design and operational automation

• Published parameters for paths, dates and processing options
• Workspace bookmarks, annotations and reusable design conventions
• Workspace parameters, user parameters and private parameters
• Batch file processing with Directory and FilenamePart transformers
• Logging, failure handling and workspace run reports
• FME Flow repositories, published workspaces and job submission
• Schedules, automations, email notifications and run monitoring

Workshop: Parameterise and publish a batch conversion workspace to FME Flow, then configure a scheduled run with notification of failed jobs.

Day 5: End-to-end GIS integration workshop

• ETL requirements capture and source-to-target mapping
• Designing workflow stages for ingestion, validation, transformation and publication
• Writing outputs to GeoPackage, GeoJSON and database-ready formats
• API and web service integration considerations using OGC API Features
• Performance considerations for large datasets and transformer ordering
• Workspace documentation, versioning and operational handover
• Testing strategy, acceptance criteria and production deployment planning

Workshop: Complete and present an end-to-end spatial ETL workspace that processes mixed source data, generates exceptions, publishes approved outputs and includes a deployment checklist.

Tools & standards covered

FME Form, FME Flow, GDAL/OGR, OGC API Features

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions