Feature Data Objects RDBMS Providers

The Feature Data Objects (FDO) API provides access to data in Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS). The Generic RDBMS project provides FDO with access to RDBMS systems through a generic framework that allows code reuse and reduces the development time for creating new FDO providers. A provider is a specific implementation of the FDO API that provides access to data in a particular data store.

This FDO Open Source project contains the code base for the ODBC and MySQL providers. Other providers which have been developed using this framework, but have not been Open Sourced include the Oracle and SQLServer providers that are included in Autodesk MapGuide Enterprise 2007.

Feature Data Objects Provider for MySQL

The FDO Provider for MySQL provides FDO with access to a MySQL-based data store.

The FDO Provider for MySQL can run in a multi-platform environment, including Windows and Linux.

Feature Data Objects Provider for ODBC

The FDO Provider for ODBC provides FDO with access to an ODBC-based data store.

The FDO Provider for ODBC can access simple x, y, z point feature objects. The FDO Provider for ODBC has the following characteristics:

  • The FDO Provider for ODBC supports the definition of one or more feature classes in terms of any relational database table that contains an X, Y, and optionally, Z columns.
  • Metadata, which maps the table name, and X, Y, and optionally, Z columns to a feature class, is optionally maintained outside the database in a configuration file. This information, in conjunction with the table structure in the database, provides the definition of the feature class.
  • The x, y, and z locations of objects are stored in separate properties in the primary object definition of a feature, but are accessible through a single class property ‘Geometry’.
  • Read-only access is provided to pre-existing data defined and populated through 3rd party applications (that is, FDO Provider for ODBC will not be responsible for defining the physical schema of the data store nor for populating the object data).
  • The schema configuration of the data store is provided to the FDO Provider for ODBC through an optional XML file containing the Geographic Markup Language (GML) definition of the schema that maps ‘tables’ and ‘columns’ in the data store to feature classes and property mappings in the FDO data model.

The FDO Provider for ODBC can run in a multi-platform environment, including Windows and Linux.