# GE Smallworld Reviews **Vendor:** GE Vernova **Category:** [GIS Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/gis) **Average Rating:** 3.8/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 17 ## About GE Smallworld GE's comprehensive suite of integrated tools enable customers to lower the cost of ownership, simplify critical network infrastructures and deliver the flexibility required to meet dynamic network requirements. ## GE Smallworld Reviews ### 1. Exploring ge smallworld **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Christine R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 16, 2023 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** The thing I like most about ge smallworld is the Network analysis and conflicts management. They also help people with difficulties they have with technology. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** The thing I dislike about ge smallworld are the mapping capabilities and some spatial queries from a user perspective are quite limited. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** GE smallworld is having problems with the streamline design, data capture workflows and ensure accuracy and completeness of utility or telecommunications network representation, from planning through operations and maintenance for the end-to-end asset lifecycle. ### 2. Education with smallworld **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Luciano A. | Professor EBTT, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2021 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Network analysis and conflicts management **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** I think the difficulty for establishment of integration on another data sources **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Education on engineering for training more users of this software ### 3. More user friendly software **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Venkatesulu G. | Microstation draftsman at RTA (Roads and Transport Authority), Dubai, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 02, 2021 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Tools customized is very good. I like this. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Server based processing is poor. This is disappointing **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Smallworld is fully database server based tools. ### 4. GE Smallworld for Physical Network Inventory **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 02, 2020 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** The ability to capture detailed network inventory and connectivity between network elements. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** The mapping capabilities and some spatial queries from a user perspective are quite limited. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Data accuracy is important **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** The detailed physical inventory of a telecoms company up to the port level. ### 5. Review for GE Smallworld **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mahesh P. | GIS Associate, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2016 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** I like Small world, Because it enables to realize process efficiencies in many areas of the plan, design, build, operate and maintain life-cycle for your network assets.it is support for structures and all dimensions of a network.I like the stability and speed compared to other platforms like ArcGis. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Smallworld is harder to learn when compare to other platforms, it is cost expensive to support, and having more tools, its difficulty to find for customization. It could be improved is the ease with which it can be integrated to different tool. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Smallworld can provide a number of data models and functionality sets that may meet your needs without customization.it might be the best on the market. They do need to improve the graphics. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** I involved in a Electrical project to use Smallworld, Its a good experience with this software. ### 6. Transmission Asset Managers review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mark K. | Lead Engineer, Utilities, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 10, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** It is a GIS system that is windows based. The support seems to be pretty good. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** I dislike the non proportional icons. It looks like a childs coloring book. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Evaluate the competition. GE might be the best on the market. They do need to improve the graphics. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using Smallworld as a design tool for distribution and gas relocations. In ddition Smallworld is tied to our asset repository. The benefit is, it is a graphical tool that also has an asset management component. The tool s not a standalone design software package. ### 7. GIS Manager/Super User **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Smallworld can handle large amounts of data much better than what I have seem competing software do. It provides a stable working environment where users can easily edit data. From a large utility perspective, I'm not sure if there is another product that can match this in terms of stability and ease of use. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** This tool has a proprietary database that does make it difficult to share data with other software. White space management is also an issue. Most tools around now offer robust white space management tools in terms of dynamic annotation or labeling while Smallworld does not. I'm certain something can be customized to do this but I feel this should be an item that comes out of the box ready to go. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** I would recommend contacting other companies utilizing Smallworld to see what other complimentary software they use. While it can do almost anything quite often it's not cost effective to have it do so. Most companies that I am aware of have some type of other additional software to effectively solve their business problems. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using this product to manage our asset location has been extremely helpful. In combination with our asset management software we're able to track down the location of our assets and build viable inspection programs around them. It also often serves as the building blocks for some of our major business cases; we're able to capture the right data, build a plan, and derive the ultimate value that will result. ### 8. GIS Smallworld is an effective GIS Asset Management Repository Database used at my company. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** We have been using this tool as a design and asset repository database for our Distribution system for many years. I work in the Transmission Engineering and now Asset Management department in which GIS SmallWorld has not been actively used as a design tool or asset repository and I find it embarrassing that we have such detailed information on all of our Distribution assets including when each individual structure was installed and last replaced but cannot come near to as accurate of information for the Transmission system which is only a fraction of its size compared to the Distribution. We have spent the last 5 years trying to update this asset data on the Transmission side and are still struggling to report information as accurately as we can on the Distribution side of the company. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Even after we completed our latest upgrade to GIS Smallworld i think that the program lacks sufficient design capabilities to be used as a full design tool for Sub-T and Transmission projects. For most Distribution projects it suffices since it is more of a planning tool and capable of ordering material and documenting the work for the asset repository purposes however I don't think it provides sufficient capabilities to be a design tool for the higher voltages which require plan & profile drawings as well as other more detailed design information which is a large influece why it was never used on this side of the business because it required duplication and additional design work to properly record in GIS Smallworld. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** As previously stated i think this is a great asset repository database but not capable of being a detailed design tool. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** As a company we have realized the benefit this offers as an asset repository database and even though it requires additional effort to properly record project details into the system the benefits of accurately recording this data outweighs the extra cost and effort to document it within this system and others. The hope is that this system can be updated to the point that we can start to eliminate some of the other places where asset data is recorded but don't ever expect this to become the primary design tool for Transmission. Being able to accurately report asset details to regulatory agencies is essential. ### 9. GE Smallworld - GIS ripe for customization **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Graham G. | Senior Consultant, Computer Software, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Ease of customization - you can add/modify functionality while the GIS is running, no restarting required in most situations. Slight modifications or completely new functionality can be coded and debugged quickly. Module Code organization - all code is organized into modules that can be individually added to any GIS session. Object Oriented code - everything is an object that can be passed as a function argument, even other functions. DB restructure testing - using a long-transaction alternative you can test new DB table definitions against the entire DB without disturbing other users/developers. You rarely have to fight code dependencies so developers spend their time developing logic not fighting incompatible libraries. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Setting up a new environment can be tricky, especially if a server farm is used. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Since the core GE Smallworld software can literally do anything your key question is what do you want? GE Smallworld can provide a number of datamodels and functionality sets that may meet your needs without customization - review them before deciding to develop a completely custom implementation. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have written code to do GIS data conflation, custom data extractions, support business processes and enable complex report generation. ### 10. GE SMALLWORLD REVIEW **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** James L. | Fiber Design Engineer, Telecommunications, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 04, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** The stability and speed compared to other platforms. Also, if you have a magik guru, very customizable. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Cost. Expensive to support. We needed a dedicated DBA for this task. A little more complex than other platforms. Harder to learn. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Consider cost for internal and provider support / licensing. Consider the learning curve. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Telecommunications asset management. Great path engineering capabilities. ### 11. GE Smallworld Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 30, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Smallworld has many positives for the GIS Utilities market. The top things that set it apart are: Internral Worlds - This allows tracing and connectivity to exist inside building details and operate as if it was in the "normal" GIS. ESRI can NOT do this. This is valuable for Switch Enclosures, Building routing like vertical details, splice enclosures. Manifolds - This is the Smallworld topology engine that is used for tracing. Once thing esri users know is rebuilding a Geographic network. This is never needed in Smallword as it is internally handled. Versioning - Since Smallworld is Object Oriented there is no need for all the versioning overhead in other GIS systems. ESRI uses Add and Delete tables that have to get processed all the time to correctly display the data. Multiple Geomertries - In Smallworld you can have a Substation for example shown as a point and a polygon. ESRI can not do this. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** There is a perception that the development language is a problem. It was a non-standard proprietary system, but that is changing to Java. It is more difficult to customize, more the reason to stay OOTB. I really did not dislike the product. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Determine the try business needs and what level of customization you are really going to do. If the key items I pointed out like, Internal Worlds, better versioning, better network topology and multiple geometery representation then this is the solution. The customization issue is not really an issue if you are not going to do too much or have a quality staff. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was involved in a project to use Smallworld as a Hybrid Coax-Fiber network inventory tool. At the time and it is depending on the needs still the best tool on the market for LARGE fiber optic cable management tools. This allowed the information to be stored on an enterprise level and not in individual pockets. ### 12. Smallworld Developer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 22, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Design Manager, Layout Tools, QAQC, Development environment **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** The openness of the proprietary database, however they are making progress on opening access to it **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** GE Smallworld is a fantastic product suite for a mid to large size electric or gas utility. Please consider implementing the office products as close to out of the box as possible as this will save you a lot of time, money and headaches when doing upgrades, implementing interfaces, etc. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Electric and Gas distribution GIS (planning, design, construction, maintenance). ### 13. Limited Use Case - Mostly Placing Cables and Splices **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Telecommunications | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 04, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Smallworld was very detailed and allowed the company to tailor the product toward what it deemed important. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** The interface and UX of the program greatly needs improvement. Since the feature set is so large, the program can be intimidating for new users and tools can be difficult to find. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Be prepared for a relatively steep learning curve. However the program does end up meeting the requirements for most usage cases that its designed for. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mapping fiber plant, Splicing fiber plant. Tracking Circuits and logical network interfaces and physical network interfaces. ### 14. Good tool for PNI with some areas of improvements **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 27, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** The managemenent of the physical network inventory and geo-coding. The internal netwrok inventory can also be created with ease. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Bulk data loading was the biggest problem and made it not very useful for the customer. Another thing that could be improved is the ease with which it can be integrated to different tool. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** Its a god tool for PNI and if the same needs to be integrated with the active inventory, there are integration adapters available with some limitations **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Physical network inventory The customer is able to manage its physical inventory in a systematic way ### 15. Its not viewer friendly and the program "Lags" since there is a lot of information within the progra **Rating:** 2.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 07, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** It does have information on structures etc. when you select to view information for a specific attribute. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** I wish it were simplier. THere are too many tabs/selections that in my opinion doesn't need to be applied. I also wish the search menu was more user friendly. **Recommendations to others considering GE Smallworld:** . **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used it to view the overall picture of my design constraints; e.g. transmission lines, distribution lines etc.. all in one view. ### 16. Advanced User / Manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Chad D. | Manager of Applications Development Comms & Media, Computer Software, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** Interface, support for structures, conduits and all dimensions of a network. **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** Lack of 3d imagery and tighter integration with maps. Version management has issues with large user base, data sets. **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** Documenting networks and customer utilization/circuites. Rack mounted Eqipment, etc... ### 17. review **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 03, 2015 **What do you like best about GE Smallworld?** lots of information available quickly to user **What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?** sometimes user interface is clunky and difficult to use **What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?** physical details of utility pole structures, ability to see underbuilt attachment codes ## GE Smallworld Discussions - [What is GE Smallworld used for?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-ge-smallworld-used-for) - [Ge Certification URL and validity and desciption](https://www.g2.com/discussions/ge-certification-url-and-validity-and-desciption) - 1 upvote - [How we can integrate GE small world with Open Source Software](https://www.g2.com/discussions/42905-how-we-can-integrate-ge-small-world-with-open-source-software) - 1 upvote - [data security](https://www.g2.com/discussions/32730-data-security) - 1 upvote - [View GE Smallworld pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/ge-smallworld/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-14+16%3A50%3A04+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=82fb67db-1cf0-47a7-8e6f-b1dda44ce2d5&secure%5Btoken%5D=f4c893e8f436c2c4fd89147fc4720ec1802f2062bf3e3426ad7892c642b19a38&format=llm_user) ## GE Smallworld Features **Data Management** - Data Capture - Data Storage - Data Manipulation - Data Visualization **Map Creation** - Geocoding - Buffer Zone Query - Overlaying - Publishing **Analysis** - Spatial Analysis - Reporting - Real-Time Streaming ## Top GE Smallworld Alternatives - [Esri ArcGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/esri-arcgis/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (515 reviews) - [QGIS](https://www.g2.com/products/qgis/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (145 reviews) - [ArcGIS Online](https://www.g2.com/products/arcgis-online/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (174 reviews)