Safe and Blue Marble Geographics’ Partnership Introduces New Possibilities in Data Transformation

Vancouver B.C. -  May 1, 2012 - Safe Software and Blue Marble Geographics announced today that they have teamed up to bring the best of both of their products together in one authoring environment to increase the possibilities of what can be achieved in the use and distribution of spatial data. With the release of the GeoCalc Extension for FME, in addition to FME’s industry-leading format support and flexible transformation capabilities, users can have access to Blue Marble’s highly accurate coordinate transformations directly through FME Workbench.

The GeoCalc Extension for FME allows those relying on GeoCalc’s coordinate transformations to bring them into FME’s intuitive graphical user interface where they have access to FME’s unparalleled format support and data transformation capabilities.

“GeoCalc and FME are highly complementary products,” says Patrick Cunningham, President of Blue Marble Geographics. “By integrating the two, our users can take advantage of FME’s excellent data transformation authoring environment, while directly accessing the highly accurate coordinate transformations they rely on in GeoCalc.”

For FME users, access to the Blue Marble coordinate engine means more choice in coordinate transformations, and increased vertical height conversion accuracy and flexibility.

“We are very excited about how this integration will increase the possibilities of what users can achieve with FME,” says Dale Lutz, Vice President of Development at Safe Software. “For example, we are seeing an explosion in the use of 3D data, particularly LiDAR, and GeoCalc’s superior geoid selection means more accurate reprojection results.”

With the GeoCalc Extension, FME users with a valid Blue Marble Desktop GeoCalc license can select the GeoCalc datasource for use in coordinate transformations directly from FME Workbench. Through the Blue Marble Desktop administrative tools, they can also guide end users to preferred coordinate systems and transformations by specifying which GeoCalc systems and geodetic objects are available for import into FME.

The integration also provides access to fine datum shift control, including the option of processing shifts with late binding transformations or direct datum transformations, avoiding the potential loss introduced by using an interim WGS84 datum shift.

The GeoCalc Extension for FME is currently in beta and will soon be available from Blue Marble Geographics. Those interested in more information email Blue Marble at info@bluemarblegeo.com.

Safe Software Inc. is the maker of FME® and the global leader in spatial data transformation technology. FME makes it possible to transform spatial data to use and share. It solves more spatial data transformation challenges across more formats than any other solution, making it easier for professionals to solve data interoperability headaches and help their organizations meet their business goals and required standards.  Today, FME is the dominant technology for spatial data transformation. It powers our FME Desktop and Server software and the solutions of more leading spatial data application vendors than any other technology. It's used by tens of thousands of customers worldwide across a wide range of industries. Learn more about achieving total spatial data mastery at www.safe.com.

Blue Marble Geographics of Gardiner, ME is a leading developer and provider of software products and services for highly accurate geospatial data conversion solutions. Blue Marble is known for its coordinate conversion and GIS visualization software expertise including the Geographic Calculator and GeoCalc SDK, as well as Global Mapper. The company has been writing GIS software tools and solutions for almost 20 years and currently serves hundreds of thousands of users worldwide. Learn more at www.bluemarblegeo.com.