Tiler

Categories

Geometries

Related Transformers

RasterTiler

Chops all input features into a series of tiles, covering the extent of all features.  

Tile size may be specified in ground units or calculated from a specified number of columns and rows to cover the extent of all features. Tiles are numbered relative to the chosen starting corner.

When Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units, tile dimensions are specified in ground units. Features in a latitude/longitude coordinate system may need to be reprojected prior to tiling.

Features that span multiple tiles will be clipped into multiple features.  

This transformer works with raster, vector and point cloud data.

Note: If you are inputting raster data, you may want to use the RasterTiler instead. The following table compares the Tiler and the RasterTiler:

  Tiler RasterTiler

Tiling extents

Cumulative over all features

Single feature

Type of data accepted

All types except surfaces and solids

Raster only

Tile size units

Ground coordinates

Pixel coordinates

Tile row numbering (0, 1,...)

Selectable

Top to bottom

Supports forcing equal-size tiles

No

Yes

Supports raster index attribute

No

Yes

Supports number of horizontal/vertical tiles attribute

No

Yes

Example

Usage Notes

  • For temporary reprojection of geographic data for defined tile size, the CommonLocalReprojector may be useful.

  • This transformer tiles the input features - it does not create a new grid. To create a grid (points or polygons) over the extent of your features, use a 2DGridAccumulator. To generate a grid independent of other features, consider the 2DGridCreator.

Configuration

Input Ports

The features that will be tiled. Point, curve, area, raster, and point cloud geometries are supported.

Output Ports

The tiled port contains all the features that have been successfully tiled.

The remnant port has any geometries that were unused during tiling.

The rejected port holds features that were invalid in a way that prevented tiling. For example, a geometry that spans to infinity in a direction.

The Invalid Parts Handling parameter determines what is output through the port. If Reject Parts Only is selected then only the parts that caused the feature to be invalid will be output through the rejected port. Otherwise, if Reject Whole Feature is selected the entire feature will be output through the rejected port.

Rejection codes include:

INVALID_PARAMETER_TILE_WIDTH

INVALID_PARAMETER_TILE_HEIGHT

INVALID_PARAMETER_SEED_COORDINATE_X

INVALID_PARAMETER_SEED_COORDINATE_Y

INVALID_PARAMETER_NUMBER_OF_HORIZONTAL_TILES

INVALID_PARAMETER_NUMBER_OF_VERTICAL_TILES

INVALID_GEOMETRY_NON_SPATIAL

INVALID_GEOMETRY_NOT_FINITE

INVALID_GEOMETRY_TYPE

Parameters

Group By

If Group By attributes are selected, features with the same values in the Group By attributes are placed into the same set, and clipping occurs in each set independent of other sets.

Complete Groups

Select the point in processing at which groups are processed:

When All Features Received

This is the default behavior. Processing will only occur in this transformer once all input is present.

When Group Changes (Advanced)

This transformer will process input groups in order. Changes of the value of the Group By parameter on the input stream will trigger processing on the currently accumulating group. This may improve overall speed (particularly with multiple, equally-sized groups), but could cause undesired behavior if input groups are not truly ordered.

There are two typical reasons for using When Group Changes (Advanced) . The first is incoming data that is intended to be processed in groups (and is already so ordered). In this case, the structure dictates Group By usage - not performance considerations.

The second possible reason is potential performance gains.

Performance gains are most likely when the data is already sorted (or read using a SQL ORDER BY statement) since less work is required of FME. If the data needs ordering, it can be sorted in the workspace (though the added processing overhead may negate any gains).

Sorting becomes more difficult according to the number of data streams. Multiple streams of data could be almost impossible to sort into the correct order, 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. In this case, using Group By with When All Features Received may be the equivalent and simpler approach.

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

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

Define Tiles By

Dimensions in Ground Units: This option enables the Width(X) and Height(Y) parameters, which allow you to specify the width and height of each tile in ground units.

Number of Tiles: This option enables the Columns and Rows parameters, which allow you to specify the number of tiles that will be produced.

Starting Corner

Chooses a starting corner for the purposes of numbering rows and columns. Also, when Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units, the last row and/or the last column may extend beyond the bounds of the input features; here the “last” row or column is the one opposite the Starting Corner.

Dimensions in Ground Units

Width(X)/Height(Y)

These parameters are required when the Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units, and allow you to specify the size of each tile in ground units (for example, 100m x 100m).

Note: If the source is a raster, does not have a coordinate system and is not georeferenced, then the raster extents and spacing are adjusted to default values. The horizontal and vertical spacing are set to one column and one row, respectively, and the origin is set to (0,0).

Note: IMPORTANT: If attributes are used for the Width(X) or Height(Y) parameters, the value will be taken from the first feature per group.

Seed Coordinate X/Y

These optional parameters specify a "seed point" from which tiles will be generated. If the seed point is within the bounding box of all inputs to the group, the seed point will be the corner of a tile. Each coordinate is an optional parameter meaning we can specify a seed coordinate for only X, only Y, both or neither. If neither is specified then the seed point is the Starting Corner.

Note: If attributes are used for the Seed Coordinate X or Seed Coordinate Y parameters, the value will be taken from the first feature per group.

Number of Tiles

Columns/Rows

These parameters are required when the Define Tiles By is Number of Tiles, and allow you to specify how to tile the input data (for example, 5 horizontal tiles and 5 vertical tiles).

Note: If attributes are used for the Columns or Rows parameters, the value will be taken from the first feature per group.

Tolerance

The minimum distance between geometries in 2D before they are considered equal, in ground units. If the tolerance is Automatic, a tolerance will be automatically computed based on the location of the input geometries. Additionally, a custom tolerance may be used.

Duplicate Elements on Tile Borders

This parameter allows elements along the border of more than one tile to be duplicated and added to each tile that they touch.

Missing Z Values

This parameter specifies how to deal with areas that have z values, but are missing at least one value after tiling.

  • Planar Interpolation will define a plane based on the input area. The missing values will be filled in by mapping the coordinate onto the plane.

  • Linear Interpolation will look at the values on either side of the missing value, and then provide an estimate.

  • None (Drop Values) will cause the z values to be removed.

  • Custom Value will fill in the missing values by a custom default value.

In any mode, if no value is given for the z values, the output will be 2D.

Missing Measure Values

This parameter specifies how to deal with geometries that have some measures, but are missing at least one value after tiling.

  • Linear Interpolation will look at the values on either side of the missing value, and then provide an estimate.

  • Nearest Vertex will take the value of the measure from the nearest vertex.

  • None (Drop Values) will cause the incomplete measure values to be removed.

If no value is given for a measure, the measure will be removed.

Invalid Parts Handling

This parameter specifies how to handle invalid parts.

If Reject Parts Only is selected then only the parts that caused the feature to be invalid will be output through the rejected port.

Otherwise, if Reject Whole Feature is selected the entire feature will be output through the rejected port.

Preserve Feature Order

This parameter controls the order in which features exit a transformer.

When a transformer has more than one output port, features usually exit one port at a time. At times, it may be useful to keep the order that features arrived in, switching from port to port as necessary. This allows feature order to be preserved, though at a potential cost in processing efficiency.

Select a method for feature ordering.

Per Output Port (Default)

Only preserve the input order of features as they occur within the group of features exiting a given output port.

All features exiting an output port retain their ordering relative to each other (within the group), but not relative to features exiting other output ports.

This option is generally the most efficient, where large chunks of features will exit an output port together (taking advantage of bulk mode).

As features exiting different output ports may not be strictly output in the order they arrived, output ordering may be unpredictable.

Across Output Ports

Strictly preserve the input order of features, regardless of which output port they exit. Features will be output singly in the same order they arrived, switching from port to port as necessary. This option is generally less efficient as the processing gains of bulk mode are less likely to apply - however, feature order is predictable.

Column

Name the attribute to contain column numbers, relative to the Starting Corner. Numbering starts with 0.

Row

Name the attribute to contain row numbers, relative to the Starting Corner. Numbering starts with 0.

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.

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.

When setting values - whether entered directly in a parameter or constructed using one of the editors - strings and expressions containing String, Math, Date/Time or FME Feature Functions will have those functions evaluated. Therefore, the names of these functions (in the form @<function_name>) should not be used as literal string values.

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.
Date/Time Functions Date and time functions are available in the Text Editor.

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.
Creating and Modifying User Parameters Create your own editable parameters.

Dialog Options - Tables

Transformers with table-style parameters have additional tools for populating and manipulating values.

Row Reordering

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

  • Add a row
  • Remove a row
  • Move current row up one
  • Move current row down one
  • Move current row to top
  • Move current row to bottom

Cut, Copy, and Paste

Enabled once you have clicked on a row item. Choices include:

  • Cut a row - delete and copy to clipboard
  • Copy a row to the clipboard
  • Paste a row from the clipboard

Cut, copy, and paste may be used within a transformer, or between transformers.

Filter

Start typing a string, and the matrix will only display rows matching those characters. Searches all columns. This only affects the display of attributes within the transformer - it does not alter which attributes are output.

Import

Import populates the table with a set of new attributes read from a dataset. Specific application varies between transformers.

Reset/Refresh

Generally resets the table to its initial state, and may provide additional options to remove invalid entries. Behavior varies between transformers.

Note: Not all tools are available in all transformers.

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Keywords: raster grid clip subset tile extent bound limit Tessellate Tessellation pointcloud