How do CSV and Excel readers automatically create geometry from coordinates stored in attributes?

• A. FME recognizes attribute names that store coordinates
• B. FME automatically geocodes any data that contains an address and postcode
• C. FME searches the data for values that represent latitude/longitude
• D. FME looks for fields containing GML geometry strings

Answer: (A)

FME builds geometry from coordinate attributes by recognizing standard field names that carry coordinates. When a CSV or Excel file has columns named in common coordinate terms—X and Y, or Longitude and Latitude—the reader treats those two values as the location of a point and creates the point geometry automatically as the data is read. This automatic interpretation is why recognizing coordinate attribute names is the best explanation here: it directly explains how the data in those attributes becomes usable spatial features without extra steps.

If the fields aren’t named in a recognizable way, you’d need to build the geometry explicitly later (for example, with a transformer that combines two attributes into a point) or ensure the data is formatted as geometry input like WKT/GML. Geocoding addresses is a different process that derives coordinates from text addresses, not from pre-existing coordinate fields. And simply scanning for latitude/longitude values or reading GML strings only applies when those specific formats are present, not as the general automatic mechanism from standard coordinate attributes.