Safe Software, the leaders in spatial ETL, announced that their software platform FME now offers read and write support for CityGML 1.0. This new support enables users to convert CityGML data into the formats their applications use and also allows them to convert their own data into the official CityGML exchange format for sharing with others.

CityGML is the Open Geospatial Consortium’s (OGC) accepted interchange format for the representation of virtual 3D city models. Professionals seeking to leverage this open standard for exchanging data can now use FME to convert and distribute their data to and from CityGML and over 200 GIS, CAD, raster, database, 3D and BIM formats also supported by FME.

Adding to the support for the draft version of CityGML 0.4 that Safe Software introduced in August, this new support for CityGML 1.0 is another step which demonstrates Safe’s commitment to delivering spatial data access to the geospatial industry. By removing the barriers of formats, data models, coordinate systems, and disparate datasets, FME continues to make it possible for data users to access the information they need in the format and structure they require.

CityGML 1.0 was adopted by the OGC as an official encoding standard on August 20, 2008. The new specification is a universal information model for the 3D representation of 3D urban objects, and provides a standard format through which users can share urban spatial data.

Organizations interested in converting and distributing CityGML data using FME can try out the FME 2009 beta by visiting www.safe.com/beta.