Licensing options for this format begin with FME Professional Edition.
The PCIDSK Reader/Writer allows FME to access data in the PCI Geomatics Database File format.
Overview
PCI Geomatics developed the PCIDSK format, also known as the PCI Geomatics Database File Format, in 1988 as a replacement for the outdated and importable UNIDSK format. The old UNIDSK format was dependent on the 16-bit architecture of the PDP11 system and was unable to scale to the 32-bit or 64-bit systems that replaced it. In addition to adding portability, the redesign of the old UNIDSK format incorporated other advantageous features:
- Expandability: From the start, the PCIDSK format was designed to accommodate new requirements as they emerged. Fields have been reserved to allow for growth and the segmented design accepts new feature types.
- Access Speed: Using a 512KB block design, which is the block size used by most hard drives, you can read and write to sections of the image with minimal overhead at the disk and operating system level.
GCPs (ground control points) present along with a projection in an PCIDSK file being read can either be applied to the data as an affine transformation, or stored as propeties of the raster geometry. GCPs cannot be written to PCIDSK.