Point Cloud XYZ Writer Parameters

Output File Parameters

Enter the file name extension for the output file. The default is xyz.

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

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

If set to Yes, the field name will be written to the first line of the output file as a column title.

Specifies whether the writer will append results to output files, or overwrite the file.

Quote Settings

Specifies whether the field names written on the first row of the file are quoted.

  • Yes – Field names will be quoted.
  • No – Field names will not be quoted.
  • if_needed – This is the default choice. Field names will be quoted only if they contain a separator character.
  • Yes – Every value is quoted.
  • No – Zero values are quoted. If set to No and the field contains an embedded separator, the separator character in that field is replaced by the space character. If space is already the separator, the underscore character is used instead. The suggested setting in this case is if_needed.
  • if_needed – This is the default choice. Values are quoted if they contain one or more separator or quote characters.

Point Cloud Components to Output

Specify the point components to be written and the order of the fields in the output XYZ file. If not specified, all components will be written out in the order they exist in the point cloud.

Spatial

Coordinate systems may be extracted from input feature data sources, may come predefined with FME, or may be user-defined. FME allows different output and input coordinate systems, and performs the required coordinate conversions when necessary.

How FME Processes Coordinate Systems in the Workspace

If a coordinate system is specified in both the source format and the workspace, the coordinate system in the workspace is used. The coordinate system specified in the source format is not used, and a warning is logged. If a source coordinate system is not specified in the workspace and the format or system does not store coordinate system information, then the coordinate system is not set for the features that are read.

If a destination coordinate system is set and the feature has been tagged with a coordinate system, then a coordinate system conversion is performed to put the feature into the destination system. This happens right before the feature enters into the writer.

If the destination coordinate system was not set, then the features are written out in their original coordinate system.

If a destination coordinate system is set, but the source coordinate system was not specified in the workspace or stored in the source format, then no conversion is performed. The features are simply tagged with the output system name before being written to the output dataset.

For systems that know their coordinate system, the Coordinate System field will display Read from Source and FME will read the coordinate system from the source dataset. For most other input sources, the field will display Unknown (which simply means that FME will use default values). In most cases, the default value is all you'll need to perform the translation.

You can always choose to override the defaults and choose a new coordinate system. Select More Coordinate Systems from the drop-down menu to open the Coordinate System Gallery.

Changing a Reprojection

To perform a reprojection, FME typically uses the CS-MAP reprojection engine, which includes definitions for thousands of coordinate systems, with a large variety of projections, datums, ellipsoids, and units. However, GIS applications have slightly different algorithms for reprojecting data between different coordinate systems. To ensure that the data FME writes matches exactly to your existing data, you can use the reprojection engine from a different application.

Note  To use this feature, you must have a supported GIS application installed on your system (for example, Esri ArcGIS®).

To change the reprojection engine, Select Workspace Parameters > Spatial > Reprojection Engine. In the example shown, you can select Esri (but the selection here depends on your installed applications):

For more information, see the links below:

Advanced

Specifies whether the byte order mark for a UTF-encoded file should be written at the beginning. This option applies only when the character encoding is set to a UTF encoding.

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 writer produces UTF-8 encoded documents. If you select any other character encoding, it will take precedence over the default.

FME supports most encodings.

Choose the end of line character to use when writing. If not specified, this parameter defaults to the System encoding.