Background Maps

The ability to view maps (or other imagery) as a backdrop to your spatial data is activated by a tool under Tools > FME Options on the menubar.

The background map dialog lets the user select an existing dataset (of any FME-supported format) to use as a backdrop, like so:

It's also possible to use a number of different web services that supply mapping on demand. Some of these - such as ArcGIS Online - do require an existing account:

Coordinate Systems

To view against a background map, source data must be referenced against a valid coordinate system. If the coordinate system is not recorded in the dataset itself, you may enter it into a field when opening the dataset:

FME is able to display the source data against a background map, even when there are several source datasets of differing coordinate systems. FME does this by reprojecting the data to the coordinate system used by the background map. Therefore it's recommended that you turn off the background maps when you want to inspect the data in its original form.