SurfaceModeller

From fmepedia

SurfaceModeller is a Workbench Transformer.

This factory is used to build and query surfaces. It can be used to drape features or to change the surface representation between DEM, TIN, and CONTOURS. You can go from any representation to any other representation. This transformer should be used when you need to get several things from a defined surface as it is more efficient than using separate transformers to build contours and a TIN, for example.

The ’Maximum Point Distance Factor’ parameter specifies the maximum distance between points allowed when calculating contours. The smaller the distance, the more selective the contour calculation. This factor is useful for cases where contours are crossing water boundaries for example. Specifying a value of 0.0 turns off this selection processing.

The underlying surface is built using the surface tolerance as specified by the tolerance parameter. This should be set to the larger of the accuracy of the elevation data being input and the accuracy of the output elevation that is required. A higher surface tolerance results in a less detailed (less accurate) TIN.

The SurfaceModeller has behaviour that's partly similar to the DEMGenerator, TINGenerator and the SurfaceDraper.