Socrata2 Reader/Writer (FME Desktop Package)

Licensing options for this format begin with FME Desktop Professional Edition.

Integrating this Format with FME Desktop

Download from FME Hub

https://hub.safe.com/publishers/safe/packages/socrata

What is FME Hub?

Package Filename

safe.socrata-1.2.0.fpkg

To install the Socrata2 format package, double-click the downloaded fpkg file.

Version

1.2.0

Requirements

FME build 19181+

This FME Desktop Package contains the Socrata Reader/Writer introduced with FME 2019.

The Socrata Reader/Writer in this package supersedes the Socrata DataSync Writer introduced in FME 2013.

Overview

Socrata makes it easy to share tabular data with collaborators or make data accessible to the public.

Socrata supports geometry in its columns. This plug-in exposes geometry as attributes with a geometric attribute type, and a value in Well-Known Text (WKT).

Reader Overview

The Socrata Reader uses the Socrata Open Data API (SODA) to download the dataset as a CSV, and then transform the rows to FME features. The results can be filtered by providing a WHERE clause in the Socrata Query Language (SoQL).

Dates and times are returned as-is from the API. The Socrata Reader does not convert them to FME date format.

Reader Dataset

The Reader Dataset is the URL for a Socrata Dataset. It must contain a valid Socrata Four-Four ID. Examples of valid dataset URLs include:

https://opendata.socrata.com/Demo/French-cheeses-dataset/m58b-pmus

https://opendata.socrata.com/api/views/m58b-pmus

Writer Overview

The Socrata Writer works by saving output features to a CSV file, which is then uploaded and transformed using the Socrata Publishing API. The Socrata Writer can create new datasets, and either replace or append to existing datasets.

The Socrata Publishing API performs a schema scan on the uploaded CSV to determine the appropriate column types. The Socrata Writer may submit a revised transformation to the server if the column types decided by the server do not agree with the attribute types set on the writer feature type schema. In the case of dates and times, the Socrata Writer defers to the formatting determined by the server-side schema scan.

The server may reject rows in the uploaded CSV. This typically occurs if the row’s data does not match the schema. The Socrata Writer will log the error count, and include a link to the CSV error report provided by the server.

Writer Dataset

The Writer Dataset is the URL for a Socrata Dataset.

  • For append and replace operations, it must be the URL for an existing dataset.
  • When creating a new Socrata Dataset, this field must either be empty or be a URL for only the host.

Examples of valid dataset URLs include:

https://opendata.socrata.com/ (for dataset creation)

https://opendata.socrata.com/Demo/French-cheeses-dataset/m58b-pmus

https://opendata.socrata.com/api/views/m58b-pmus

Writer Feature Type

The feature type of the Socrata Writer corresponds to the name of the Socrata dataset.

When writing to an existing Socrata dataset, the dataset name will be updated to match the writer feature type. However, when the writer feature type is identical to the four-four ID of the destination Socrata dataset, the name of the Socrata dataset will not be modified.