VectorOnRasterOverlayer

Rasterizes vector or point cloud features onto an existing raster. For vector features the fme_color attribute sets pixel color, and point clouds may be rendered using their color or intensity components.

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Typical Uses

Imprinting vector data onto an existing raster background (such as orthophotos)
Updating a raster image from vector data

How does it work?

The VectorOnRasterOverlayer receives vector geometries (points, lines, areas) and/or point clouds, and rasterizes them onto an input raster feature, producing a single output raster.

For vector input features, the fme_color attribute determines the pixel color in the raster. Pixel values for red, green, and blue bands will be taken from the corresponding component of a feature's fme_color attribute. Pixel values for gray bands will be the average of the fme_color components.

Polygonal features may also optionally have an fme_fill_color attribute; in this case, the outer boundary will be drawn using fme_color and the inner area will be drawn using fme_fill_color.

For point clouds, pixel coloring may be done using either the color or intensity component.

The Z coordinates of the input vector features are used to generate pixel values for numeric bands.

Line weights are not supported, and features will be drawn at a width of one (1) pixel. Lines and points may be buffered prior to entering the transformer to increase their visibility.

Alpha value and anti-aliasing options are available. The resolution, extents, and interpretation of the output raster will be identical to the input raster.

Vector data extents do not need to match the extents of the raster - if they extend beyond the raster, they will be clipped.

Attributes from the input vector or point cloud features may be merged onto the output raster, with a list attribute option available.

Features with no color attribute (or point clouds without an intensity component, if selected) will be discarded and output via the <Rejected> port, as will extra or invalid raster images.

Aggregate rasters are not supported, but they may be deaggregated and mosaicked prior to entering the transformer. Aggregate vector data may be rasterized, but may produce duplicate records if a list attribute is created.

This transformer supports raster band selection. The RasterSelector can be used to modify selection.

Usage Notes

To rasterize vectors/point clouds and create a new raster (not drawing on an existing one), use the ImageRasterizer.
To add labels, you can use a Labeller and TextStroker prior to the VectorOnRasterOverlayer.
For fine control over cartographic styling, consider using the MapnikRasterizer.
If your background raster spans more than one image, use a RasterMosaicker prior to the VectorOnRasterOverlayer.
To produce elevation rasters, use the NumericRasterizer.
To increase size and visibility on vector features, consider using the Bufferer.
To colorize a point cloud from a raster, use the PointCloudOnRasterComponentSetter.

Choosing a Raster Transformer

FME has an extensive selection of transformers for working with raster data. They can be generally categorized as working with whole rasters, bands, cells or palettes, and those designed for workflow control or combing raster with vector data.

For information on raster geometry and properties, see Rasters (IFMERaster).

Raster Transformers

Working with Rasters

These transformers generally apply to whole rasters.

RasterCellOriginSetter	Sets the raster's cell origin.
RasterConvolver	Applies a convolution filter (sometimes called a kernel or lens) to raster features and outputs the results.
RasterExpressionEvaluator	Evaluates expressions on each cell in a raster or pair of rasters, including algebraic operations and conditional statements.
RasterExtentsCoercer	Replaces the geometry of input raster features with a polygon covering the extents of the raster.
RasterGCPExtractor	Extracts the coordinate system and the Ground Control Points (GCP) from the raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterGCPSetter	Sets the Ground Control Points (GCP) on a raster with the specified Column (pixel), Row (line), X Coordinate, Y Coordinate and Z Coordinate.
RasterGeoreferencer	Georeferences a raster using the specified parameters.
RasterHillshader	Generates a shaded relief effect, useful for visualizing terrain.
RasterInterpretationCoercer	Alters the underlying interpretation of the bands of the raster geometry on the input features, using the specified conversion options. For example, an input raster feature with three bands of interpretation (UInt16, Gray8, and Real64) could be converted to a raster feature with three bands of interpretation (Red8, Green8, and Blue8) or four bands of interpretation (Red16, Green16, Blue16, and Alpha16) in a single operation.
RasterMosaicker	Merges multiple raster features into a single raster feature.
RasterPropertyExtractor	Extracts the geometry properties of a raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterPyramider	Resamples rasters to multiple resolutions, based on either number of levels or dimensions of the smallest output raster.
RasterResampler	Resamples rasters, based on specified output dimensions, cell size in ground units, or percentage of original, and interpolates new cell values.
RasterRotationApplier	Applies the raster rotation angle on the input raster properties to the rest of the raster properties and data values. The expected input is a raster with a non-zero rotation angle and the expected output is a rotated raster with a rotation angle of 0.0. It is expected that the input raster properties will be modified to conform the output raster properties for a raster rotated by the given angle. Applying a rotation angle is primarily done for compatibility with other processing and writers that cannot handle a rotation angle.
RasterSubsetter	Clips raster features using pixel bounds instead of ground coordinates, and optionally adds cells around the perimeter.
RasterTiler	Splits each input raster into a series of tiles by specifying either a tile size in cells/pixels or the number of tiles.
RasterToPolygonCoercer	Creates polygons from input raster features. One polygon is output for each contiguous area of pixels with the same value in the input raster.
WebMapTiler	Creates a series of image tiles that can be utilized by web mapping applications such as Bing™ Maps, Google Maps™, or Web Map Tile Service. This is done by resampling rasters to various different resolutions and then splitting them into tiles.

Working with Bands

These transformers generally apply to bands.

RasterBandAdder	Adds a new band to a raster feature.
RasterBandCombiner	Merges coincidental raster features into a single output raster feature, preserving and appending all bands.
RasterBandInterpretationCoercer	Alters the interpretation type of individual raster bands, converting cell values if necessary.
RasterBandKeeper	Removes all unselected bands from a raster feature.
RasterBandMinMaxExtractor	Extracts the minimum and maximum band values, palette keys, and palette values from a raster feature, and adds them to a list attribute.
RasterBandNameSetter	Sets the band name of selected bands on a raster, making raster contents simpler to understand compared to band numbers.
RasterBandNodataRemover	Removes the existing nodata identifier from selected bands of a raster feature. Any values previously equal to the nodata value are considered valid data.
RasterBandNodataSetter	Sets a new nodata value on selected bands of a raster feature.
RasterBandOrderer	Specifies the required order of bands in a raster. Bands are reordered according to the input band indices.
RasterBandPropertyExtractor	Extracts the band and palette properties of a raster feature and exposes them as attributes.
RasterBandRemover	Removes any selected bands from a raster feature.
RasterBandSeparator	Separates bands or unique band and palette combinations, and outputs either individual raster features or a single new raster feature containing all combinations.
RasterStatisticsCalculator	Calculates statistics on raster bands and adds the results as attributes.

Working with Cells

These transformers generally apply to individual cells.

RasterAspectCalculator	Calculates the aspect (direction of slope) for each cell of a raster. Aspect is measured in degrees from 0 to 360, clockwise from north.
RasterCellCoercer	Creates individual points or polygons for each cell in a raster, optionally extracting band values as z coordinates or attributes.
RasterCellValueCalculator	Evaluates basic arithmetic , minimum, maximum or average operations on the cell values of a pair of rasters.
RasterCellValueReplacer	Replaces a range of band values in a raster with a new single value.
RasterCellValueRounder	Rounds off raster cell values.
RasterSingularCellValueCalculator	Performs basic arithmetic operations on the cell values of a raster against a numeric value.
RasterSlopeCalculator	Calculates the slope (maximum rate of change in z) for each cell of a raster.

Working with Palettes

These transformers generally apply to palettes.

RasterPaletteAdder	Creates a palette from an attribute, and adds this palette to all selected bands on a raster.
RasterPaletteExtractor	Creates a string representation of an existing palette on a raster and saves it to an attribute.
RasterPaletteGenerator	Generates a palette out of the selected band(s) of a raster. The output raster will have the selected band(s) replaced by a new band with a palette.
RasterPaletteInterpretationCoercer	Alters the interpretation type of raster palettes.
RasterPaletteNodataSetter	Identifies the palette key that matches a raster band’s nodata value, and sets a value on it.
RasterPaletteRemover	Removes selected palette(s) from raster features.
RasterPaletteResolver	Resolves the palette(s) on a raster by replacing cell values with their corresponding palette values. Palette values with multiple components, such as RGB, are broken down and the individual values assigned to multiple, newly-added bands.

Workflow Control

These transformers generally control the flow of features in a workspace.

RasterCheckpointer	Sets a checkpoint in the raster processing which forces previous processing to occur immediately. Once complete, it saves the current state to disk.
RasterConsumer	Requests the tile(s) from the raster geometry but no actual operations are performed on the tile(s).
RasterExtractor	Serializes the geometry of the feature into the Blob Attribute based on the selected writer format.
RasterNumericCreator	Creates a feature with a raster of the specified size with a numeric value and sends it into the workspace for processing. It is useful for creating a very large image with a user-specified width and height.
RasterReplacer	Replaces the geometry of the feature with the geometry held in the Blob Attribute. The blob is decoded according to the selected raster format.
RasterRGBCreator	Creates a feature with a raster of the specified size with an RGB value and sends it into the workspace for processing.
RasterSelector	Selects specific bands and palettes of a raster for subsequent transformer operations.

Vectors and Rasters

These transformers generally involve using rasters and vector data together.

ImageRasterizer	Creates a raster representation of vector or point cloud input features, using the fme_color attribute over a solid background fill for vector features. Point clouds may be rendered using their color or intensity components.
NumericRasterizer	Draws input point, line and polygon features onto a numeric raster filled with the background value. The Z coordinates of the input vector features are used to generate pixel values. Features without Z coordinates will be discarded.
MapnikRasterizer	Generates a raster from input vector and raster features, with fine control over symbolization and labeling, using the Mapnik toolkit.
PointOnRasterValueExtractor	Extracts the band and palette values from a raster at the location of one or more input points and sets them as attributes on the feature.
VectorOnRasterOverlayer	Rasterizes vector or point cloud features onto an existing raster. For vector features the fme_color attribute sets pixel color, and point clouds may be rendered using their color or intensity components.

Configuration

Input Ports

Output Ports

Parameters

Transformer

Group By

If the Group By parameter is set to an attribute list, one raster per group will be produced.

Parallel Processing

Select a level of parallel processing to apply. Default is No Parallelism.

Parallel Processing

Note: How parallel processing works with FME: see About Parallel Processing for detailed information.

This parameter determines whether or not the transformer should perform the work across parallel processes. If it is enabled, a process will be launched for each group specified by the Group By parameter.

Parallel Processing Levels

Parameter	Number of Processes
No Parallelism	1
Minimal	coresThe processor, or CPU, is the physical part of the computer that performs mathematical calculations. It is the most important part of a computer system. Traditional processors have only one core on the processor, meaning that at any given time, only one set of calculations is being performed. If a processor is dual-core, this means the single chip contains hardware for two processors, now called cores to distinguish them from the single chip, running simultaneously, side by side. (Source: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5730257_computer-core-processors_.html) / 2
Moderate	exact number of cores
Aggressive	cores x 1.5
Extreme	cores x 2

For example, on a quad-core machine, minimal parallelism will result in two simultaneous FME processes. Extreme parallelism on an 8-core machine would result in 16 simultaneous processes.

You can experiment with this feature and view the information in the Windows Task Manager and the Workbench Log window.

Input Ordered

No: This is the default behavior. Processing will only occur in this transformer once all input is present.

By Group: This transformer will process input groups in order. Changes of the value of the Group By parameter on the input stream will trigger batch processing on the currently accumulating group. This will improve overall speed if groups are large/complex, but could cause undesired behavior if input groups are not truly ordered. Specifically, on a two input-port transformer, "in order" means that an entire group must reach both ports before the next group reaches either port, for the transformer to work as expected. This may take careful consideration in a workspace, and should not be confused with both port's input streams being ordered individually, but not synchronously.

Considerations for Using Input is Ordered By

Using Ordered input can provide performance gains in some scenarios, however, it is not always preferable, or even possible. Consider the following when using it, with both one- and two-input transformers.

Single Datasets/Feature Types: Are generally the optimal candidates for Ordered processing. If you know that the dataset is correctly ordered by the Group By attribute, using Input is Ordered By can improve performance, depending on the size and complexity of the data.

If the input is coming from a database, using ORDER BY in a SQL statement to have the database pre-order the data can be an extremely effective way to improve performance. Consider using a Database Readers with a SQL statement, or the SQLCreator transformer.

Multiple Datasets/Feature Types: Since all features matching a Group By value need to arrive before any features (of any feature type or dataset) belonging to the next group, using Ordering with multiple feature types is more complicated than processing a single feature type.

Multiple feature types and features from multiple datasets will not generally naturally occur in the correct order.

One approach is to send all features through a Sorter, sorting on the expected Group By attribute. The Sorter is a feature-holding transformer, collecting all input features, performing the sort, and then releasing them all. They can then be sent through an appropriate filter (TestFilter, AttributeFilter, GeometryFilter, or others), which are not feature-holding, and will release the features one at a time to the transformer using Input is Ordered By, now in the expected order.

The processing overhead of sorting and filtering may negate the performance gains you will get from using Input is Ordered By. In this case, using Group By without using Input is Ordered By may be the equivalent and simpler approach.

In all cases when using Input is Ordered By, if you are not sure that the incoming features are properly ordered, they should be sorted (if a single feature type), or sorted and then filtered (for more than one feature or geometry type).

As with many scenarios, testing different approaches in your workspace with your data is the only definitive way to identify performance gains.

Attribute Accumulation

Merge Attributes

If enabled, attributes from the overlaid vector features will be merged onto the output raster.

Accumulation Mode

Merge Vectors: Attributes from all features will be merged, and in case of conflicts, the value of Conflict Resolution will be used.

Prefix Vectors: Incoming attributes will be presented with a prefix set in Prefix parameter.

Only Use Vectors: Only attributes from vectors will be used.

Conflict Resolution

This parameter is enabled when Accumulation Mode is set to Merge Vectors.

Use Raster and Use Vectors will give priority to the raster and vectors respectively in case of attribute conflicts.

Prefix

The value is used as a prefix when Accumulation Mode is Prefix Vectors.

Generate List

When enabled, adds a list attribute to the output raster feature, and the attributes of overlaid features are added to that list, in order of appearance.

List Name

Enter a name for the list attribute.

Note: List attributes are not accessible from the output schema in Workbench unless they are first processed using a transformer that operates on them, such as ListExploder or ListConcatenator. Alternatively, AttributeExposer can be used.

Add To List

All Attributes: All attributes will be added to the output features.

Selected Attributes: Enables the Selected Attributes parameter, where specific attributes may be chosen for inclusion.

Selected Attributes

Enabled when Add To List is set to Selected Attributes. Specify the attributes you wish to be included.

Editing Transformer Parameters

Using a set of menu options, transformer parameters can be assigned by referencing other elements in the workspace. More advanced functions, such as an advanced editor and an arithmetic editor, are also available in some transformers. To access a menu of these options, click beside the applicable parameter. For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.

Defining Values

There are several ways to define a value for use in a Transformer. The simplest is to simply type in a value or string, which can include functions of various types such as attribute references, math and string functions, and workspace parameters. There are a number of tools and shortcuts that can assist in constructing values, generally available from the drop-down context menu adjacent to the value field.

How to Set Parameter Values

Using the Text Editor

The Text Editor provides a convenient way to construct text strings (including regular expressions) from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and constants, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Text Editor

Using the Arithmetic Editor

The Arithmetic Editor provides a convenient way to construct math expressions from various data sources, such as attributes, parameters, and feature functions, where the result is used directly inside a parameter.

Arithmetic Editor

Conditional Values

Set values depending on one or more test conditions that either pass or fail.

Parameter Condition Definition Dialog

Content

Expressions and strings can include a number of functions, characters, parameters, and more - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors.

Content Types

String Functions	These functions manipulate and format strings.
Special Characters	A set of control characters is available in the Text Editor.
Math Functions	Math functions are available in both editors.
Math Operators	These operators are available in the Arithmetic Editor.
FME Feature Functions	These return primarily feature-specific values.
FME Parameters	FME and workspace-specific parameters may be used.
Working with User Parameters	Create your own editable parameters.

Reference

Processing Behavior	Group-Based
Feature Holding	Yes
Dependencies	None
FME Licensing Level	FME Professional Edition and above
Aliases
History
Categories	Rasters Spatial Analysis

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Examples may contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver

Alpha Value (0-1)	Specify the alpha channel value (0-1) for the vector features, where 0 is fully transparent and 1 is fully opaque.
Composite Using Alpha Band	If Yes, rasters will be expected to have an alpha band selected. Vector features will then be blended with the underlying raster according to their alpha values, rather than just overwriting the underlying raster.

Anti-Aliasing	If Yes, the output lines will be smoothed using an anti-aliasing algorithm.
Tolerance	The Tolerance parameter is the maximum normalized distance from a line segment or polygon vertex to a pixel to be rendered. For example a tolerance of 1.0 will draw all pixels touched by the input vector line, while a tolerance of 0.0 will draw only those pixels where the input vector line passes directly through their center. Tolerance can only be selected when anti-aliasing is off.