Point Cloud XYZ Reader Parameters

Field Separation

Choose the separator that will divide the fields in the file. By default, this parameter is set to space; however, you can also select one of the following separators:

  • , (comma)
  • ; (semicolon)
  • | (vertical bar)
  • tab

By default, each separator is treated as if it separates a different field.

When this parameter is selected, multiple contiguous separators are treated as a single separator.

Some CSV files place quotation marks around all values they contain. When selected, this parameter will strip quotation marks from column values.

If the field or column names of the table are specified in the file, select this value and the names will be extracted from the file. Otherwise, the columns of the table are given default names (for example, col0, col1, ... , colN).

If the column/field names is AFTER the header information instead of BEFORE, then you can set this option. Otherwise, by default, the first line of the file will be used as the column/field names.

Note   This parameter is ignored if File Has Field Names is not selected. If Field Names Follow Header is selected, Lines to Skip should also be set to skip at least 1 row, or the first row will be also be processed as a feature.

Lines to Skip

This indicates the number of lines to skip at the top of the file. By default, 1 line is skipped. Each line skipped is logged to the log file. This is useful if the file contains a header line of field names or other descriptive material (like comments) that should be skipped.

This field indicates the number of footer lines to skip at the bottom of the file. By default, no footer lines are skipped. Each footer line skipped is logged to the log file. This is useful if the file contains a footer line of descriptive material that should be skipped.

Limits the number of lines read into the point cloud.

Component Map Generation

Indicates the number of rows in the file that should be read to generate the automatic mapping of the component map.

The default is 10,000. If this parameter is set to 0, there will be no limit and all rows will be read.

Note   This only affects the component map – it does not affect the reader when the translation is run.

File Preview

Displays a preview of the data, if available.

Point Cloud Component Map

Maps each data column in the Point Cloud XYZ file to a component of the point cloud. This table is automatically populated from the first Point Cloud XYZ file, if one is present. The component map is reset every time a parameter that affects the columns is changed.

If not specified, the point cloud will have one component for each column, with the component name equal to the column name, and where the type is determined by scanning the file.

A search envelope (also known as a bounding box) is a rectangular area that defines a geographic area. In FME, the easiest way to define a search envelope is to use search envelope parameters.

Defining a search envelope is the most efficient method of selecting an area of interest because FME will read only the data that is necessary – it does not have to read an entire dataset. Search Envelope parameters apply to both vector and raster datasets and can be particularly efficient if the source format has a spatial index.

Most FME readers have parameters to define the search envelope of data that is being read:

Screenshot with blank search envelope min and max x and y parameters

The parameters include the x and y coordinates of the bounding box as well as a parameter that defines the coordinate system.

How to Define the Bounding Box

Using the minimum and maximum x and y parameters, define a bounding box that will be used to filter the input features. Only features that intersect with the bounding box are returned. Note that the bounding box intersection is not a full geometry intersection (based on spatial relationships) that would be returned by a transformer like the SpatialFilter.

Note  If all four coordinates of the search envelope are left at 0, the search envelope will be disabled even if this option is checked.

Search Envelope Coordinate System

Specifies the coordinate system of the search envelope if it is different than the coordinate system of the data. The coordinate system associated with the data to be read must always be set if this parameter is set.

If this parameter is set, the minimum and maximum points of the search envelope are reprojected from the Search Envelope Coordinate System to the reader’s coordinate system prior to applying the envelope.

Clip to Search Envelope

The underlying function for Use Search Envelope is an intersection; however, when Clip to Search Envelope is checked, a clipping operation is also performed.

  • When left unchecked (set to No), features that overlap the boundary will be included in their full (unclipped) form.
  • When checked (set to Yes), this option instructs FME to clip features to the exact envelope boundary. FME removes any portions of imported features being read that are outside the search envelope.

Clip to Search Envelope: No

Clip to Search Envelope: Yes

Any features that cross the search envelope boundary will be read, including the portion that lies outside of the boundary.

Any features that cross the search envelope boundary will be clipped at the boundary, and only the portion that lies inside the boundary will be read.

The search envelope includes the bounding box and the extent of the raster.

The search envelope includes only the area within the bounding box.

The raster size will still match the bounding box, but the area without data will be filled with Nodata values to represent the absence of data, if the source raster has them.

Raster Nodata may be a single value across all bands, a single value per band, or a separate alpha or transparency band that indicates the lack of data values (this is more common in images than other types of rasters).

Advanced

This parameter is applicable if you are working with extended (not basic ASCII) character sets. If your source data contains non-ASCII characters, using this parameter along with the encoding value ensures that the original data is preserved from the reader to the writer.

By default, the character encoding will be automatically detected from the local operating system. If you select any other character encoding, it will take precedence over the automatically detected character encoding.

FME supports most encodings.

Specifies whether string component data may contain separators.

This parameter must be set to Yes if the data contains separators, or the file may be read incorrectly. However, if there are no separators, setting this parameter to No may improve performance.

Additional Attributes to Expose

Use this parameter to expose Format Attributes in FME Workbench when you create a workspace:

  • In a dynamic scenario, it means these attributes can be passed to the output dataset at runtime.
  • In a non-dynamic scenario, this parameter allows you to expose additional attributes on multiple feature types. Click the browse button to view the available format attributes (which are different for each format) for the reader.