<s>
Spatial	O
extract	O
,	O
transform	O
,	O
load	O
(	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
)	O
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
geospatial	B-General_Concept
transformation	O
and	O
load	O
(	O
GTL	O
)	O
,	O
provides	O
the	O
data	O
processing	O
functionality	O
of	O
traditional	O
extract	O
,	O
transform	O
,	O
load	O
(	O
ETL	O
)	O
software	O
,	O
but	O
with	O
a	O
primary	O
focus	O
on	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
manage	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
(	O
which	O
may	O
also	O
be	O
called	O
GIS	B-Application
,	O
geographic	B-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
map	O
data	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
system	O
may	O
translate	O
data	O
directly	O
from	O
one	O
format	O
to	O
another	O
,	O
or	O
via	O
an	O
intermediate	O
format	O
;	O
the	O
latter	O
being	O
more	O
common	O
when	O
transformation	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
to	O
be	O
carried	O
out	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
transformation	O
phase	O
of	O
a	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
process	O
allows	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
functions	O
;	O
some	O
of	O
these	O
are	O
similar	O
to	O
standard	O
ETL	O
,	O
but	O
some	O
are	O
unique	O
to	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
commonly	O
consists	O
of	O
a	O
geographic	B-General_Concept
element	O
and	O
related	O
attribute	O
data	O
;	O
therefore	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
transformations	O
are	O
often	O
described	O
as	O
being	O
either	O
geometric	O
transformations	O
–	O
transformation	O
of	O
the	O
geographic	B-General_Concept
element	O
–	O
or	O
attribute	O
transformations	O
–	O
transformations	O
of	O
the	O
related	O
attribute	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Reprojection	B-Application
:	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
convert	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
between	O
one	O
coordinate	O
system	O
and	O
another	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Desirable	O
features	O
of	O
a	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
application	O
are	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
has	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
distinct	O
uses	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
conversion	I-General_Concept
:	O
Conversion	O
between	O
different	O
data	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
ETL	O
tools	O
for	O
processing	O
non-spatial	O
data	O
have	O
existed	O
for	O
some	O
time	O
,	O
ETL	O
tools	O
that	O
can	O
manage	O
the	O
unique	O
characteristics	O
of	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
only	O
emerged	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
tools	O
emerged	O
in	O
the	O
GIS	B-Application
industry	O
to	O
enable	O
interoperability	O
(	O
or	O
the	O
exchange	O
of	O
information	O
)	O
between	O
the	O
industry	O
's	O
diverse	O
array	O
of	O
mapping	O
applications	O
and	O
associated	O
proprietary	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
tools	O
are	O
also	O
becoming	O
increasingly	O
important	O
in	O
the	O
realm	O
of	O
management	B-Application
information	I-Application
systems	I-Application
as	O
a	O
tool	O
to	O
help	O
organizations	O
integrate	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
with	O
their	O
existing	O
non-spatial	O
databases	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
to	O
leverage	O
their	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
assets	O
to	O
develop	O
more	O
competitive	O
business	O
strategies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditionally	O
,	O
GIS	B-Application
applications	O
have	O
had	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
read	O
or	O
import	O
a	O
limited	O
number	O
of	O
spatial	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
formats	O
,	O
but	O
with	O
few	O
specialist	O
ETL	O
transformation	O
tools	O
;	O
the	O
concept	O
being	O
to	O
import	O
data	O
then	O
carry	O
out	O
step-by-step	O
transformation	O
or	O
analysis	O
within	O
the	O
GIS	B-Application
application	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conversely	O
,	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
does	O
not	O
require	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
import	O
or	O
view	O
the	O
data	O
,	O
and	O
generally	O
carries	O
out	O
its	O
tasks	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
predefined	O
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
push	O
to	O
achieve	O
greater	O
interoperability	O
within	O
the	O
GIS	B-Application
industry	O
,	O
many	O
existing	O
GIS	B-Application
applications	O
are	O
now	O
incorporating	O
spatial	B-Application
ETL	I-Application
tools	O
within	O
their	O
products	O
;	O
the	O
ArcGIS	B-Application
Data	O
Interoperability	O
Extension	O
being	O
an	O
example	O
of	O
this	O
.	O
</s>
