Tiler

Splits input features into a series of tiles by specifying either tile size (in ground units) or total number of tiles.

Typical Uses

Tiling data for storage or processing efficiency
Tiling data to match the extents of other datasets to enable group processing

How does it work?

The Tiler accepts features with most types of geometry, including vector, raster, and point cloud. 2D and 3D features are supported. The input features are divided into a series of rectangular tiles, according to parameter selections.

The extent of each tile may be described by:

Dimensions in Ground Units - where the height and width of the tiles are specified explicitly in the ground units of the features’ coordinate system, or
Number of Tiles - where the bounding box encompassing all features is divided by the specified number of columns and rows.

Features receive Column and Row number attributes identifying the tile they fall within. Columns and rows are numbered from zero (0) and the numbering may start in any corner.

Features are split where they cross tile boundaries. Elements that fall on tile borders may be duplicated in each tile.

Seed coordinates can be used to control tile position when Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units.

3D features are tiled as they overlay the 2D tiles. Where they are split, z values may be interpolated in a variety of ways. Measures may also be interpolated where required.

RasterTiler or Tiler?

The RasterTiler also tiles rasters, and may be appropriate if you wish to tile based on number of cells (pixels) per tile. This table compares the two:

	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

Examples

Example: Using tile size and seed coordinates to control tile position

In this example, we will tile a set of transit line features using a specific tile size. We want the resulting tiles to align with a separately-generated grid. Seed coordinates will be used to control the position.

Note that the features are in a UTM83-10 coordinate system, with ground units in meters.

The features are routed into a Tiler.

In the parameters dialog, Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units. Both the Width and Height are set to 1000 meters.

The Seed Coordinates are also set to 1000, which ensures the tile corners are placed predictably at coordinates that are multiples of 1000, rather than starting wherever the extents of the features fall.

To better illustrate the tiling, the features are assigned colors according to their column and row numbers with a FeatureColorSetter.

The output features have been tiled, receiving row and column numbers.

The tiled features align spatially with a grid generated separately with a 2DGridCreator, using a 1000-meter interval over a larger area than the transit lines’ extents.

Note the Min and Max Extents values for the grid cell - whole numbers, multiples of 1000. The tile boundaries fall on the same coordinates.

Usage Notes

Features in a latitude/longitude coordinate system may need to be reprojected prior to tiling. Consider using the Reprojector or other reprojection transformers. For temporary reprojection for defined tile size, the CommonLocalReprojector may be useful.
The Tiler does not create grid. For grid, see the 2DGridAccumulator or 2DGridCreator.

Creating and Modifying Boxes and Rectangles

Creating rectangular geometry is a common task. These transformers do so in a variety of ways.

Rectangle Transformers Comparison

Transformer	Use this to...	Transformer Description
Creator	Create one or more new features with box geometry of a specific size and position (when Geometry Object is Box).	Creates features using the parameters supplied, and sends them into the workspace for processing.
2DBoxReplacer	Replace an existing feature’s geometry with a box of a specific size and position.	Replaces feature geometry with a 2D box defined by specified minimum and maximum x and y values.
BoundingBoxAccumulator	Create one rectangle that encompasses all features received.	Creates a rectangular polygon that spans the extents of all input features.
BoundingBoxReplacer	Individually replace the geometry of each feature with a rectangle that covers its extents.	Replaces feature geometry with a box or cube that spans the extents of the feature.
RasterExtentsCoercer	Individually replace the geometry of each raster feature with a rectangle.	Replaces the geometry of input raster features with a polygon covering either the extents of a raster or the extent of data within a raster.
BoundsExtractor	Extract the coordinate values that describe an individual feature’s bounding box (or cube) and store them as attributes.	Extracts a feature’s minimum and maximum coordinate values into attributes.
2DGridAccumulator	Create a series of regularly-spaced rectangles that span the extent of all features (when Type of Grid to Create is Polygons).	Creates a regular grid of points or rectangular polygons that span the extents of all input features.
2DGridCreator	Create a series of regularly-spaced rectangles of a specific size and position (when Type of Grid to Create is Polygons).	Creates a regular grid of points or rectangular polygons of a specified size, position, and coordinate system.
Tiler and RasterTiler	Chop features into a series of rectangular tiles, specified in a similar fashion to the 2DGridAccumulator.	Splits input features into a series of tiles by specifying either tile size (in ground units) or total number of tiles. Splits each input raster into a series of tiles by specifying either a tile size in cells/pixels or the number of tiles.

Configuration

Input Ports

Output Ports

Parameters

Group Processing

Group By

The input features may be partitioned into groups based on attribute values.

One tiling operation is performed for each group.

If Group By is not specified, all input features will be processed together.

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.

General

Define Tiles By

Select a tile sizing method:

Dimensions in Ground Units	Specify an exact tile size in ground units.
Number of Tiles	Divide the features’ extents into a specified number of equal tiles.

Starting Corner

Select the corner for the origin of the tiling. Column and row numbering starts at 0,0.

When Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units, the last column and/or row may extend beyond the bounding box of the input features. The last column/row is opposite the selected Starting Corner.

Dimensions in Ground Units

When Define Tiles By is Dimensions in Ground Units:

Width(X)	Specify the tile width along the x axis, in the ground units of the feature’s coordinate system.
Height(Y)	Specify the tile height along the y axis, in the ground units of the feature’s coordinate system.
Seed Coordinate X	(Optional) Seed coordinates define a point from which the tiles are offset. They may lie inside or outside the extents of features being tiled. Seed coordinates can be used in conjunction with Width(X) and Height(Y) to align the tiles with grids or other features, or ensure that cell boundaries fall on particular types of numbers (multiples of 1, 100, or 1000, for example). Either X, Y, or both coordinates may be seeded. If neither is specified then the seed point is the Starting Corner.
Seed Coordinate Y	(Optional) See Seed Coordinate X.

If any of these values are supplied via an attribute or expression, the values used are taken from the first encountered feature of the group. Values from subsequent features are ignored

When tiling rasters without coordinate systems or georeferencing, ground units are one (1) per cell and the origin is 0,0.

Number of Tiles

When Define Tiles By is Number of Tiles:

Columns	Specify the number of tiles desired along the x axis.
Rows	Specify the number of tiles desired along the y axis.

If any of these values are supplied via an attribute or expression, the values used are taken from the first encountered feature of the group. Values from subsequent features are ignored

Advanced

Tolerance

Specify the minimum distance between geometries in 2D before they are considered equal, in ground units:

Automatic (default): Tolerance is automatically computed based on the location of the input geometries.
Custom Value: Specify an explicit tolerance value.

Duplicate Elements on Tile Borders

Features on the border between tiles may be duplicated so that they appear in both tiles:

Yes: Duplicate.
No (default): Do not duplicate.

Missing Z Values

Select a method for interpolating z values required after tiling:

Planar Interpolation defines a plane based on the input area. Missing values are filled in by mapping the coordinate onto the plane.
Linear Interpolation considers values on either side of the missing value and interpolates.
None (Drop Values) removes all z values from the features and outputs it in 2D.
Custom Value assigns a specified value.

Missing Measure Values

Select a method for handling features that have some measures, but are missing at least one value after tiling:

Linear Interpolation considers values on either side of the missing value and interpolates.
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

If a feature has geometry with an invalid part:

Reject Parts Only: Only the parts that caused the feature to be invalid will be output through the <Rejected> port.
Reject Whole Feature: 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.

Editing Transformer Parameters

Transformer parameters can be set by directly entering values, using expressions, or referencing other elements in the workspace such as attribute values or user parameters. Various editors and context menus are available to assist. To see what is available, click beside the applicable parameter.

How to Set Parameter Values

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.

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.

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.
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

Table Tools

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.

For more information, see Transformer Parameter Menu Options.

Reference

Processing Behavior	Group-Based
Feature Holding	Yes
Dependencies	None
Aliases
History

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Examples may contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver, Open Government Licence - British Columbia, and/or Open Government Licence – Canada.

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.