Origins and History
Although ETL tools for processing non-spatial data have existed for some time, ETL tools that can manage the unique characteristics of spatial data only emerged in the early 1990s.
Spatial ETL tools emerged in the GIS industry to enable interoperability (or the exchange of information) between the industry’s diverse array of mapping applications and associated proprietary formats. However, Spatial ETL tools are also becoming increasingly important in the realm of Management Information Systems as a tool to help organizations integrate spatial data with their existing non-spatial databases, and also to leverage their spatial data assets to develop more competitive business strategies.
Traditionally, GIS applications have had the ability to read or import a limited number of spatial data formats, but with few specialist ETL transformation tools; the concept being to import data then carry out step-by-step transformation or analysis within the GIS application itself. Conversely, Spatial ETL does not require the user to import or view the data, and generally carries out its tasks in a single predefined process.
With the push to achieve greater interoperability within the GIS industry, many existing GIS applications are now incorporating Spatial ETL tools within their products; the ArcGIS Data Interoperability Extension being a good example of this.
Read more about this topic: Spatial ETL, Spatial ETL
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