UI

Verified User in Information Technology and Services

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

10/30/2015

"GE Smallworld Review"

4/5

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.

Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AU

Verified User in Utilities

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

10/22/2015

"Smallworld Developer"

5/5

What do you like best about GE Smallworld?

Design Manager, Layout Tools, QAQC, Development environment Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?

The openness of the proprietary database, however they are making progress on opening access to it Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is GE Smallworld solving and how is that benefiting you?

Electric and Gas distribution GIS (planning, design, construction, maintenance). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UT

Verified User in Telecommunications

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

12/4/2015

"Limited Use Case - Mostly Placing Cables and Splices"

2.5/5

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

CI

Verified User in Information Technology and Services

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

10/27/2015

"Good tool for PNI with some areas of improvements"

2.5/5

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UU

Verified User in Utilities

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/7/2015

"Its not viewer friendly and the program "Lags" since there is a lot of information within the progra"

2/5

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

CD

Chad D.

Manager of Applications Development Comms & Media

Computer Software

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

10/26/2015

"Advanced User / Manager"

5/5

What do you like best about GE Smallworld?

Interface, support for structures, conduits and all dimensions of a network. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

UU

Verified User in Utilities

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

12/3/2015

"review"

2.5/5

What do you like best about GE Smallworld?

lots of information available quickly to user Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about GE Smallworld?

sometimes user interface is clunky and difficult to use Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.