How do i get my data on the map, Creating a mapinfo .tab file of your data, When do i geocode vs. create points – Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional User Manual
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How Do I Get My Data on the Map?
There are three steps to putting your organization's data on a map:
• Creating a MapInfo .tab file of your data
• Geocoding or creating points for the data
• Displaying your points on a map
Creating a MapInfo .tab File of Your Data
The first step in using your data in MapInfo Professional is to create that .tab file from your data. This
process takes the data you have created (either a spreadsheet or database) and extracts the information
into a .tab file that MapInfo Professional can use. Your data remains in tact as we go through this process.
The process that MapInfo Professional uses depends upon the type of format your data is in. You can
create a MapInfo table of the following data file format types:
• Microsoft Excel (.XLS or .XLSX)
• Microsoft Access (.MDB or .ACCDB)
• SQLite (.SQLITE)
• d-Base (.DBF)
• Lotus 123 (.WKS, WK1)
• ASCII (.TXT)
• Comma Delimited files (.CSV)
• RDBMS (Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL with PostGIS)
• XML (Web Map Service)
For database versions that MapInfo Professional supports, see the MapInfo Professional Install Guide.
The process for creating a .tab file from ASCII data is called "registering" instead of creating
because we are actually making a series of pointers to the ASCII data. The process is different
but your resulting files behave the same way.
Note:
Once you have a Mapinfo .tab file of your data, you need to either geocode or create points for the data.
You care then ready to display your data on a map, as described under
.
The Help System contains these related topics:
• Displaying your Excel (.XLS or .XLSX) Data
• Displaying your Access (.MDB or .ACCDB) Data
• Displaying your SQLite Data
• Displaying your Comma Delimited Data
• Displaying your dBase Data
• Displaying your Lotus 1-2-3 Data
• Displaying your ESRI Shapefile Data
• Displaying and Registering Your ASCII Data
• Importing and Displaying GML File Data
• Displaying Your Remote DBMS Data
• Displaying and Importing Data from a Web Map Service
When Do I Geocode vs. Create Points?
There are two processes that MapInfo Professional uses to identify and plot your data on a map.
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How Do I Get My Data on the Map?