FME and GPS

Introduction

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that uses a receiver and four or more satellites to determine position anywhere on Earth. The term GPS used to refer only to the United States satellite system, part of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), but it has become interchangeable with satellite navigation systems from other countries. These satellite navigation systems include: GNSS (North America), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (European Union), BeiDou (China), NAVIC (India), and Quasi-Zenith (Japan). Note that this article uses GPS to refer to the GNSS satellites, your GPS device might be able to use the other systems, consult your device’s documentation for more information.

Knowing your location, or your asset's location, is vital. Using a GPS receiver and satellites determines location accurately (exact accuracy measurements can vary significantly between device brands). Collecting the data is the easy part, being able to use the data in a meaningful way is where things become tricky, that’s where FME comes in.

FME can interact with GPS data in three main ways. The first way is to read GPS data directly using brand-specific format readers like Trimble, Garmin, or ArcPad. The second way is to export the data from your GPS device in a generic GPX, KML, XML, or CSV format and then read it into FME. The third way is to connect to your device’s API. This article covers all three methods and provides additional resources to learn more.

Brand-Specific Data Formats

Depending on the brand of GPS device you are trying to read data from, you may need to install a free plugin called GPSBabel first. GPSBabel is a free, open-source plugin that works with any operating system. After you install it and restart FME, the formats will be available to use. If you are having issues with FME and GPSBabel, contact Safe Software Support. Consult the documentation for your specific GPS brand to determine how to export the data. FME can also write out to all the formats listed below unless otherwise indicated.

Formats that can be read directly into FME:

TrimbleJob XML (Reader only)

Formats that require GPSBabel:

GPX, KML, XML & CSV Data

Some GPS devices or mobile apps can export GPX, KML, or XML data, which you can then |read ito FME using the corresponding readers. FME can also write to these formats, which you can then import into your device (if available). For more information on how to do this, see the following tutorials:

Using an API to retrieve GPS data

Besides exporting data to a file, some GPS devices have an API that lets you retrieve data via an internet-connected device. Using FME and the HTTPCaller transformer, you can read and manipulate data from these APIs. To learn how to use an API in FME, see the following tutorials:

The following is a list of API-enabled GPS devices our customers have used. Please refer to your device’s documentation to learn the specifics about how to use its specific API:

Garmin: