MapInfo Professional is a desktop geographic information system (GIS) software product produced

by Pitney Bowes Software(formerly MapInfo Corporation) and used for mapping and location
analytics. MapInfo allows users to visualise, analyse, interpret, understand and output data to reveal
relationships, patterns, and trends.

MapInfo Professional was first released in 1986 as the Mapping Display and Analysis System
(MIDAS) and was the first desktop GIS product on the market. At this time it was available only for
the DOS operating system. This software could be customized by using the MapCode development
environment which was a C-like programming language. The name was subsequently changed to
just "MapInfo" upon its second release.
The DOS product was eventually discontinued and replaced by MapInfo for Microsoft Windows in
1990. MapInfo was redesigned with an easier-to-use graphical user interface and was also made
available for the UNIX and Macintosh operating systems. The MapCode development environment
was replaced with a new language called MapBasic.
Version 4 of the product, released in 1995, saw the product renamed to "MapInfo Professional".
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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 and a PDF
generator that supports both Layered and Geo-registered 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 toMapInfo Stratus, ability to ingest Bing Maps directly as
background mapping and enhanced support for OGC 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 [INSPIRE] compliance.
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.
MapInfo Professional is used by proficient GIS users or analysts for complex spatial analysis,
building reports that describe their conclusions, and making decisions based on those conclusions. It
is used for a wide range of business applications in many industries.
With MapInfo Professional,the Sydney Organizing 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 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. We couldnt have created the torchbearer selection process without
MapInfo and CDATA96, and it was invaluable as a backup for picking up discrepancies in the
information in our database
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Other examples include:
Map Creation and Editing - MapInfo Professional includes map creation and editing tools
including the ability to auto-trace over complex regions; create any parcel region including a
diamond shape (or any parallelogram); map rotation; object rotation; copy, move or nudge;
Snap-to nodes automatically follow common boundaries or geographical features.
GeoMarketing - The application of location intelligence to identify geographic areas in which to
deliver marketing.
Site Location Analysis - Determining the optimum location to open or close an site e.g. 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 and disorder.
Layering: One of the most frequently used features of MapInfo Professional is its ability to
combine data from widely different sources, even with different formats and projections, in the
same map window. Once combined in the map window, relationships that only exist,
geographically, between the different data sets can be visualised and queried. Layers can be
vector and raster together. In the map window, you can control the order of layers, labelling and
display characteristics including the translucency of raster images.
Thematic Mapping: Allows the user to shade maps, present bar & pie charts, graduated
symbols, dot density, and grids. In addition, the Prism thematic feature that allows regions of the
map to be extruded to give the impression of height.
SQL Selection with Geographic Extensions: Build and save SQL queries that access and
integrate data from multiple tables. Frequently performed queries can be written once, re-used
and distributed to others. Standard SQL statements include SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP
BY, ORDER BY, and INTO, and geographic specific SQL statements include CONTAINS,
WITHIN, PARTLY WITHIN, ENTIRELY WITHIN, and INTERSECTS. Results can be aggregated
using SUM(), MIN(), MAX(), COUNT(*), AVG(), and WTAVG() functions. Once a selection is
made, it can be inverted because crafting a complex query to select all but a few records or
objects, is often more easily achieved by select the few to exclude, and invert the selection to
unselect them and simultaneously select all the others.
Charts & Graphs:Interactive graphs and charts including 3D, bubble, column, histogram,
surface, area, bar, line and pie scatter charts. Select graph templates from thumbnail sketches.
Graphing style control includes position, tilt, rotation and pie explosion. Choose database
records by clicking on sections of a chart or graph.
Hotlinks: Any object in a map can now contain a link to a document (URL, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .tab,
.wor, .mdb, etc.) that will automatically launch when clicked.
3D Visualization: 3D viewing allows for freehand tilt and rotations of maps as well as for
traditional panning and zooming.
Raster Image Support: Use raster images such as scanned paper maps, satellite images,
photographs and logos to provide detailed content layers for your maps.
Linked Views: View and/or edit data in multiple linked views (including rows and columns,
graphs and maps) simultaneously.
Buffers Around Objects: Perform detailed geographic searches with buffering and area
selection tools.
Geographic Searches: Integrate geographic criteria into database queries (contains, intersects,
within, etc.).
Drag and Drop Tool: Improve presentations by "dragging and dropping" a map into other
applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and Corel Draw or export maps
directly into PhotoShop.
Crystal Reports: Use the built-in report writer from Crystal Reports to provide additional support
for your visual analysis.
Conflict Management: Manage discrepancies in data when multiple users write to server based
data files.
Universal Translator: Translate bi-directional between MapInfo Professional and other
mapping environments including AutoCAD, ESRI and Intergraph/Bentley. Formats include DWG,
DXF, DGN, Shape and E00 and so on.
Rotate Map Window Utility: Rotate the map window a specific number of degrees.
Easy Loader: Upload MapInfo TAB files into database.