MapInfo Pro is a desktop

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a ...

(GIS) software product produced by Precisely (formerly: Pitney Bowes Software and MapInfo Corporation) and used for mapping and location analysis. MapInfo Pro allows users to visualize, analyze, edit, interpret, understand and output data to reveal relationships, patterns, and trends. MapInfo Pro allows users to explore spatial data within a dataset, symbolize features, and create maps.

History

Version 4 of the product, released in 1995, saw the product renamed to "MapInfo Professional".MapInfo vs. Arc/Info Comparison
/ref> Version 9.5 was released in June 2008. Version 9.5.1 was released in December 2008. The primary enhancements in these releases included the use of a new graphics engine which allows for translucency and anti-aliasing when displaying maps. A set of CAD like editing tools were also added in this release. Version 10 was released in June 2009. The primary enhancements included a more intuitive user interface, including a rewritten Layer Control dialog box, compatibility with

PostGIS PostGIS ( ) is an open source software program that adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL object-relational database. PostGIS follows the Simple Features for SQL specification from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Technica ...

and a PDF generator that supports both Layered and

georeference Georeferencing means that the internal coordinate system of a map or aerial photo image can be related to a geographic coordinate system. The relevant coordinate transforms are typically stored within the image file (GeoPDF and GeoTIFF are examples) ...

PDF files. Version 10.5 was released in May 2010. The primary enhancements included a new Table Manager window, a built in ability to publish to MapInfo Stratus, ability to ingest Bing Maps directly as background mapping and enhanced support for Catalog Service for the Web (CSW). Version 11 was released in June 2011. The primary enhancement included performance tuning and usability improvements on the Browser window for creating and analysing tabular data. Integration with MapInfo Manager, a product for managing spatial data and providing NSPIREcompliance. Support for 64 bit operating systems was improved with the ability to use up to 4 GB of RAM (instead of 2GB, the limit when running on 32 bit operating systems). Version 11.5 was released in June 2012. The primary enhancements include a new window for Creating Legends, further enhancements to the new Browser window (introduced in v11.0) and further integration with MapInfo Manager, including the ability to edit metadata within the Catalog Browser. Version 12 was released in June 2013, with improvements to Cartographic Output; Support for Windows 8, SQL Server 2012, PostGIS2; and a new In-Product Notifications feature utilizing RSS. Version 12.5 of MapInfo Pro was the first time that a 64 bit version of the product was introduced. MapInfo Pro 12.5 32 bit was released in July 2014 and 64 bit in October 2014. The 64 bit release saw the introduction of a new ribbon UI and layout window, as well allowing for a new framework to handle background processing and multi-threading. Version 15 of MapInfo Pro 32 bit was released in June 2015 and 64 bit (15.2) was released in October 2015. Highlights include geopackage support as well as changes to the TAB file format to allow larger files and Unicode. The 64 bit version of 15.2 saw the introduction of MapInfo Pro Advanced as a new licensing level for the product which incorporates all new raster capabilities into the product including a .NET SDK. MapInfo Pro Advanced allows users to visualize very large raster files at high resolution such as 1m for a whole country and incorporating multiple satellite bands. This is achieved using a new multi resolution raster file format (.mrr). Version 16 of MapInfo Pro 64 bit was released in September 2016. Notable features include redesigned Ribbon interface, new interactive interface for thematic mapping, WFS 2.0 and WMTS support, Geopackage support. All new 64-bit version of EasyLoader is included with the release. Version 17.0 of MapInfo Pro 64 bit was released in April 2018. Python support was added. Version 2019 of MapInfo Pro 64 bit was released in Nov 2019. Much extended SQL is a key new feature. The mother company is rebranded as Precisely by its new owner Syncsort. Version 2021 of MapInfo Pro 64 bit was released in Oct 2021. Support for Time Series (mapping/visualizing geographic data changing over time) was added.

Uses

MapInfo Pro is a 64-bit GIS (Geographic Information System) application used by GIS engineers and business analysts. Industry examples include: * Insurance – Analyze exposure to risk from environmental or natural hazards such as floods, tornadoes, hurricanes or crime. Perform demographic and risk analysis to determine the best target locations to acquire new potential policy holders. * Environment – Analyze and assess environmental impacts such as pollution, erosion, invasive species, climate changes including human induced changes to the environment. * Engineering – Coordinate with local planning and engineering groups for construction projects. Assist related groups by helping them understand environmental impacts or locations of public or utility infrastructure such as water, gas and electrical services. * Telco – Produce coverage maps, visualize gaps in coverage, plan for additional coverage. Maximize new investment based on demographics, local terrain and available real estate for cell tower sites. * Marketing - The application of location intelligence to identify geographic areas in which to deliver marketing. * Retail Site Selection - Determining the optimum location to open or close a site (store, factory, depot etc.). The selection process is typically based on customers or worker location, demographics, buying patterns, transport links, nearby facilities. * Crime Analysis - Systematic analysis of spatial data for identifying and analyzing patterns and trends in

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

and

disorder Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern. Disorder may also refer to: Healthcare * Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance * Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern ...

. * Mineral Exploration - Visualisation of spatial data such as drill holes, soil samples, geophysical survey data, tenement boundaries and cadastral data.

System Features

Data Format --- MapInfo Pro is a database which manages information as a system of Tables. Each table is either a map file (graph) or a database file (text) and is denoted the file extension .TAB. MapInfo creates a visual display of the data in the form of a map (map window) and/or tabular form (browser window). Once data has been referenced in a table it is assigned X and Y coordinates so that the records can be displayed as objects on a map. This is known as

Geocoding Address geocoding, or simply geocoding, is the process of taking a text-based description of a location, such as an address or the name of a place, and returning geographic coordinates, frequently latitude/longitude pair, to identify a locat ...

. Objects (points, lines,

polygons In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...

) can be enhanced to highlight specific variations on a theme through the creation of a

Thematic map A thematic map is a type of map that portrays the geographic pattern of a particular subject matter (theme) in a geographic area. This usually involves the use of map symbols to visualize selected properties of geographic features that are no ...

. The basic data is overlaid with graphic styles (e.g. colour shades, hatch patterns) to display information on a more sophisticated level. For example, population density between urban and rural areas may show the cities in deep red (to indicate a high ratio of inhabitants per square mile), while showing remote areas in very pale red (to indicate a low concentration of inhabitants). Retrieval of information is conducted using data filters and "Query" functions . Selecting an object in a map window or records in a browser produces a temporary table that provides a range of values specified by the end-user. More advanced "Structured Query Language" (SQL) analysis allows the user to combine a variety of operations to derive answers to complex questions. This may involve a combination of tables and resultant calculations may be such as the number of points in polygons, proportional overlaps, and statistical breakdowns. The quantity and quality of the attributes associated with objects are dependent on the structure of the original tables.

Vector analysis Vector calculus, or vector analysis, is concerned with differentiation and integration of vector fields, primarily in 3-dimensional Euclidean space \mathbb^3. The term "vector calculus" is sometimes used as a synonym for the broader subjec ...

is a primary function of MapInfo based on X, Y coordinates and the user can create and edit data directly with commands such as: node editing, combine, split, erase, buffer, clip region. MapInfo Pro includes a range of engineering “CAD like” drawing and editing tools such as lines, circles, and polygons (referred to as "regions") which can be incorporated into tables or drawn as temporary overlays. Printout of MapInfo maps and/or statistics is managed through design settings in the Layout Window. Layout design enables the creation of composite presentations with maps, tables, legends, text, images, lines and shapes. Output hardware includes large format

plotter A plotter is a machine that produces vector graphics drawings. Plotters draw lines on paper using a pen, or in some applications, use a knife to cut a material like vinyl or leather. In the latter case, they are sometimes known as a cutting ...

s and high spec. business printers. Data from MapInfo may be embedded into applications such as Microsoft PowerPoint or Word using copy/paste commands and resized as required. Compatibility with External Software Systems --- MapInfo Pro can read and write other file formats for data exchange with applications such as: * ESRI

Shapefile The shapefile format is a geospatial vector data format for geographic information system (GIS) software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a mostly open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other GIS software products ...

and

AutoCAD DXF AutoCAD DXF (Drawing Interchange Format, or Drawing Exchange Format) is a CAD data file format A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode informati ...

* CSV and delimited

ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...

text *

Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for ...

and

Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Access Database Engine (ACE) with a graphical user interface and software-development tools (not to be confused with the old Microsoft Access ...

Bitmaps In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits. It is also called a bit array or bitmap index. As a noun, the term "bitmap" is very often used to refer to a particular bitmapping application: th ...

or Raster Formats such as

GeoTIFF GeoTIFF is a public domain metadata standard which allows georeferencing information to be embedded within a TIFF file. The potential additional information includes map projection, coordinate systems, ellipsoids, datums, and everything else nece ...

, ECW, Mr. SID,

JPEG JPEG ( ) is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images, particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and im ...

, PNG, MRR * Spatial Databases:

Oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The wor ...

, SQL Server,

SQLite SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it belongs to the family of embedded databases. It is the mo ...

and GeoPackage *

Open Geospatial Consortium The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international voluntary consensus standards organization for geospatial content and location-based services, sensor web and Internet of Things, GIS data processing and data sharing. It originated in 199 ...

Web Services: Web Feature Service, Web Map Service, Catalog Service for the Web * Web Base Maps: Bing, Open StreetMap (OSM)

Historical Notes

With MapInfo Professional, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) created hundreds of maps for the longest torch relay in the history of the modern games. The Olympic Torch Relay covered 26,940 kilometres (16,740 miles) in 100 days and traversed Australia by road, railway and boat. The torch route was designed to ensure that more than 85 percent of the Australian population was within a one-hour drive of the chosen route, which passed through 1,000 towns. In addition, TNT Express used MapInfo to map more than 5,500 delivery routes to deliver Olympic tickets to more than 400,000 Australian homes.

References

External links