Introduction

FX translators and database interfaces are command-driven programs which convert non-Xmarc data into Xmarc eim data streams. Eim data is a proprietary Xmarc interchange format describing graphic entities with or without non-graphic metadata.

All fx translators (known generically as "interfaces") share a common command set and a variety of deployment options.

The principal purpose of a translator is to serve data to clients. They receive commands from a client requesting data, usually spatial in nature, and they return the data to the client. The client is typically a running session of Fire but can be any process with an understanding of the eim data protocol, including an interactive console session directed by keyboard input.

Most interfaces can be categorized into one of 3 categories:

  • file-based, where data is centralized in self-contained data files, e.g.

    • AutoCAD (dxf,dwg)
    Intergraph (dgn)
    Shape (shp,shx,dbf)
    MapInfo (mid,mif)
    Eagle (mod)

  • coverage-based translators, where data is spread across multiple file-hierarchies, based on a coverage/feature schema, e.g.

    • ESRI Arc/Info
    VPF Digest

  • database interfaces, connections to proprietary database serviers, often but not necessarily object relational, where spatial and meta-data are held in conventional row/column configurations, e.g.

    • Oracle Relational
    Oracle Object Relational
    ESRI Arc/SDE
    Informix Relational
    Microsoft ODBC

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