Government Computer News
MapInfo brings GIS to the masses
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In recent years, lots of software has added geographic information system data to maps. But the process of getting reference data to overlay maps has always been a complicated one. Most users could do only very simple data analysis—detailed information mining had to be done by specialists.
MapInfo Professional does a good job of bringing GIS power to the average user. It does this in two ways, both of which we tested in the lab.
First it exploits data wherever it lives by conforming to Open Geospatial Consortium standards. This means it can read almost any data format without forcing the user to use third-party translation software or hand-keying the relevant information into MapInfo. We tested it with two major databases—Oracle and Microsoft Access—plus a handful of other data sources. We didn’t encounter any problems and were able to use the data as if it were native to MapInfo.
The second way that MapInfo makes things easier for users is at the front end. The user in-terface is intuitive and makes use of simple drag-and-drop and point-and-click features. No programming skills are required.
For example, when working in MapInfo, we wanted to take some GIS data that we’d collected and put it into a Microsoft Word file. Using the grabber tool, we easily picked it up and dropped it into the file like any other picture or object.
Live or static mode
Next, we were given the choice of making the data live or static. In live mode, the data in the Word file points back to the original data source. When we went back and changed the source to update some information, the data in the Word document automatically updated itself. In static mode, the map exists as a simple graphic file.
If you didn’t know a lot about the back-end processes of linking GIS data to locations on a map, you might think that what MapInfo does is fairly straightforward. It’s not. But the software takes a necessarily complex process and presents it in a simple way. There are even wizards to help you out. For example, if you want to shade maps based on criteria in your data set, you simply run a wizard and tell MapInfo what data to use and what it means. You can shade maps based on population density, the gender of people living there, income levels or any other criterion in your data.
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