Tempus Telcosys (P) Limited

Telecom Tutorials

Instruction to MAPINFO

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Targets of the Course

This course is intended to give a brief
introduction to MAPINFO on the following
aspects:
To get a knowledge of basic functions of MAPINFO and

be familiar with normal operations of MAPINFO

To carry out network planning, optimization and map

maintenance with MAPINFO

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Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction to Mapinfo

Chapter 2 Major Mapinfo Operations

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Outline
Mapinfo functions
Mapinfo basic concepts
Mapinfo toolbars
Mapinfo table maintenance

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Preface
Mapinfo is an electronic map processing software developed by
American Mapinfo. It provides MapBasic scripts for secondary
development.
Mapinfo provides such functions as measurement analysis, buffer
analysis, polygon analysis, table combination and so on.

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Mapinfo table
Mapinfo workspace
Raster image
Map layer
Map objects

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Mapinfo table
A table in Mapinfo is different from a common one. It is a logical table, but composes of multiple
physical files. A table in Mapinfo includes:
Data table: It includes graphical information or not. It composes of rows and columns, wherein,
rows are for different record and columns for the corresponding fields.
Raster table: It is different from data table and has no records, fields, index and so on. It is an
image that can only be displayed in the Mapinfo window.

Here, table in Mapinfo refers to pure data table or

table containing both data and graphical
Note:

information, but excluding raster table.

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Mapinfo table consists of the five
types of files listed
xxx (file name).tab: used to describe
data structure
xxx (file name).map
can be either a pure data file or a
data-graphical information joint file.
xxx (file name).id
An index file created when using
[Find] command.
xxx (file name).ind
When a table contains graphical
information, ID file acts as the
index of the graphical files to joint
the data and the graphical
information.
xxx (file name).dat/xls/dbf
Database file as the data source of
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an Mapinfo table.
Can be either

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Mapinfo workspace
Workspace is a set
including multiple tables in a
map window. Here, a set is one
that composes of multiple paths
to open the relative tables
instead of that containing
multiple of tables physically.
The user can save the
current workspace after opening
all necessary tables, and then
open the workspace directly if
those tables are required again
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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Raster
Raster is a kind of bitmap since it is composed of numerous picture points. Activate the
raster first before creating a vector map. Mapinfo raster supports the following types of
files: xx*.gif, xx*.jpg, xx *.tif, xx *.pxc, xx *.bmf (windows bitmap), xx *.tda, xx *.bll (spot
satellite map).
Use of raster
As background of Mpinfo map
As an independent map
As a reference for creating a vector map

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Map layer
Generally, a map includes various
kinds of information, but only
one kind of information is
concerned during the analysis
for a specific target. Therefore,
it is recommended to create
different layers for information
of different kinds to make
convenience for the specific
analysis.
Generally, a layer corresponds to
one Mapinfo table, but it can
also corresponds to multiple
tables by seamless map layers
Layers can be classified
into
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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Map layers
Layer control
Right click in the [Map] window to select [Layer Control], then make the corresponding
settings in it:

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Map layers
Layer Control
Remove
Remove one or more layers from
the map. In fact, the act only
removes the layer from the current
windows instead of the memory,
and they can be restored by
clicking <Add> in the [Layer
Control] dialog, unless they have
been removed by clicking
[File/Close Table].
Add
Add one or more layers to the map
window. Choose from the listbox of
opened tables.
Label
Available only when
the selected
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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Map layers
Layer Control
Display
Use this dialog box to
specify display attributes for
map layers.
Thematic
Choose to display the
[Modify Thematic Layer]
dialog box. Use this dialog
to modify the attributes of a
thematic map.
Reorder
Use the UP and Down
buttons to modify the

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Mapinfo Basic Concepts

Objects in an map
Dot
Line
region

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Toolbar is a group of commands possessing a certain features. It is a kind of short cut menu and can be
placed anywhere in the screen
Tool Manager
Tool Manager, as shown below, is used to manage toolbars.

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Mapinfo Toolbars
Mapinfo toolbars includes:
Main toolbar

Drawing toolbar

Standard toolbar

Tools toolba

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Mapinfo Table
Maintenance
Mapinfo table maintenance
Maintain table structure :
[Table/Maintenance]
Update data in a table :
[Table/Update Column]
Combination : [Table/Combine
Objects using Column]
Rename table :
[Table/Maintenance/Rename
Table]
Table import/export : [Table/
Import/Export
Here, we only give an introduction
to Update Column and use it as
an example for other
operation.
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Mapinfo Table
Maintenance
Update data in a table using the
[Table/Update Column] menu
Update Column allows you
to change a column's value
based on its own data or data
from another table automatically,
it will alleviate your work. This is
done by using the special joint
between two tables, usual the
cell name, to update the data in
one table or import the data
from one table to another
Operating steps:
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Create a table (usually
using

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Mapinfo Table
Maintenance
Update data in a table using the
[Table/Update Column] menu
Operating steps:
Select [Table/Update Column]
to pop up the [Update
Column] dialog, as shown
below. Choose the table to
be update, then choose the
source table, finally choose
the column to be updated.

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Mapinfo Table
Maintenance
Update data in a table using the
[Table/Update Column] menu
Operating steps:
Following the above, make the
corresponding settings in
the [Specify Join] dialog
box, as shown below.

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Mapinfo Table
Maintenance
Update data in a table using the
[Table/Update Column] menu
Operating steps:
Following the above, then
specifying the process for the
return result and click <OK> to
update the table.
1. Calculate
Specifying the process for the
return result:
A. Get the result directly;
B. Doing some special process
for the return
result and then use it as final
result
2. Of
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stored in a

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Mapinfo Major Operations

SQL Select and Find
Labeling function
Create Mapinfo Thematic Map
Configure raster image and create vector map
Output the screen with layout window
Perform drive test analysis using Mapinfo
Labeling network indices geographically

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SQL Select and Find

SQL Select and Find
SQL Select
Structure Query Language (SQL)
provides a powerful query
platform that makes a feature
of simple language and
convenient operation. SQL
platform presents a graphical
dialog to facilitate
selecting
textbox
data source and query
conditions, and generates SQL
sentence before executing the
SQL sentence. Finally, it
generates a temporary table to
display the results, as shown
below.
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SQL Select and Find

Find
This function help to find the
desired information correctly
and quickly, then display the
information in the map in a
specified form.

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SQL Select and Find

Operating steps:
Select [Query/Find] or press
the key combination
Ctrl+F directly. If this
command is used for the
first time, the dialog box on
the left pops up, prompting
to input the corresponding
settings. If otherwise, that
on the right pops up.
Keep them as blank generally
Select the mode to
display the results

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Operating steps:
Input the corresponding
information in the blank text
box and then click <OK> to
display the results. Select
one from the results
displayed and click <OK>
pop up an dialog as below.

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Label
In Mapinfo system, the user can specify
the content, position and style of labels.
The user can either label the object
with the content of a particular column
in a table or create an expression to set
up and display custom labels.
By choosing label lines, the user
can control whether a line or arrow
connects the object you want to label,
or position the label to fall in a
particular location relative to the object.
The user can control the look of the
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label by choosing different
fonts.

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Label
[Label Options] dialog
Select the source of the
label

Set the position of the label

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Create Mapinfo Thematic

Map
Create thematic map
Based on the data from the table,
use different kind of color,
character and graphic to
display the object. Thus the
data can be geographically,
directly and visually display on
the map window.

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Create Mapinfo Thematic

Map
Operating steps:
In the menu bar, Click map,
choose create thematic map ,
use the right window to select
thematic map type (In the
following section, we use
ranges thematic map as an
example)
In the right window, select data
source for the thematic map

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Create Mapinfo Thematic

Map
Operating steps:
Customize the pattern of the
thematic map. For thematic
maps of different types,
different dialogs will pop up.
Referring to the receiving
signal level analysis for more
explanation.

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Register Raster Image and

Create Vector Map
Register raster image
Raster image is some kind of
bitmap. Register raster image
can make it contain both
longitude and latitude. It is
recommended to choose at
least three special points, such
as the road cross, school, hotel
and so on, and then measure
both the longitude and the
latitude with GPS for them.
The points cant belong to the
same straight line. For the
points, the more the better.
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Register Raster Image and

Create Vector Map
Operating steps:
Find at least three points that
must not in the same line .
Measure both the longitude and
the latitude with GPS
In the Mapinfo, select [File/Open
Table] to pop up the [Open
Table] dialog. Select [Raster
Image] and then select a file,
click <Open>. In the popped
up dialog, click <register> to
pop up the [Image registration]
dialog box. Click <projection>
to pop up the [choose
projection] dialog box. Select
Longitude/Latitude
in the
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Register Raster Image and

Create Vector Map
Operating steps:
In the map, click the points
measured before one by one
to pop up the [add control
point] dialog box. Input the
longitude and latitude for [Map
X] and [Map Y] respectively.
Finally, click <OK> to finishing
configuring the raster image,
as shown below.

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Register Raster Image and

Create Vector Map
Create vector map
Create a vector map using the
registered raster image as the
reference. The vector map is a
standard digital map file that
can be opened by many
software applications.
Operating steps
Open the raster image file
configured
Select [File/New Table], and then
make sure to check [Add to
Current Mapper] in the popped
up dialog. Click <Create> to
pop up the [New Table
Structure] dialog
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box.

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Register Raster Image and

Create Vector Map
Operating steps:
In the [Create New Table] dialog
box, input the file name before
click <Save>. Then, two tables
can be viewed in the title bar of
the [Map] window. One
represents the vector map,
and the other represents
bitmap. Right click in the [Map]
window to select [Layer
Control] to make sure that
vector map is editable
Drawing the vector map as per
the raster image with the
Drawing Toolbar. Select the
polyline and right
click to select
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Using Layout Window to

Configure Output
Select [New Layout Window] to pop up
the dialog as below then configure the
layout window.

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Mapinfo can help to perform drive test

analysis by displaying drive test results
in various graphics modes and
processing measurement data. The
major methods include creating
thematic map, labeling and statistics.
The most used analysis includes:
Receiving level analysis
Receiving quality analysis
Cell coverage analysis
Results output

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Receiving level analysis
Create a thematic map by taking
the receiving levels gotten from
the drive test as the data
source of the thematic map, to
display the receiving levels in
the Mapinfo window as per the
actual test path, as shown
below.

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Convert the file obtained through
the drive test into the TAB file
that can be identified by the
Mapinfo. Open the drive test
file, and meanwhile the map
file.
Click [Map/Create Thematic Map]
to pop up the [Create Thematic
Map] dialog. Click <Ranges>
in the dialog.

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Select the data sources of the
thematic map. Here the data
sources are the drive test table
and the receiving level in it, as
shown in the upper right figure.
Click <Next> to pop the dialog
shown in the lower right figure,
and then make the corresponding
settings

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Following the above, select
Customize to divide the
receiving level into segments,
and then set the number of
ranges before clicking
Select custom
<Recalc>, then input both the
Max. and the Min. values and
then click < Recalc>. Mapinfo
Set number of ranges
will calculate both the number
and the percentage of the
measurement results in each
range. Finally, click <OK>.

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Set Max.
and Min
value

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Drive Test analysis using Mapinfo

Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Following the above, make the
corresponding settings as below.

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Following the above, customize
the legend as below.

Save the settings as a

template

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Steps:
Thus finish the receiving level
analysis, as shown below.

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Cell coverage analysis
Mapinfo can help to perform cell
coverage analysis with its
labeling function. It labels the
data (such as LAC+CI) that
can identify an exclusive cell
on the drive test path so that
the user can know which cell is
the current service cell and
then optimize the network
coverage, as shown below.

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Output analysis results
There are three methods to output
the measurement results after
drive test analysis.
Copy the screen and then do
some specific process
Use [File/Save Window As]
Use [Window/New Layout
Window]
Layout window is preferred to output
the analysis result. It uses WYSIWYG
(What you see is what you get)
manner. This makes it more effective
and accurate comparing to other two.
Select [File/Save Window] of the layout
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window to output the measurement

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Drive Test analysis using

Mapinfo
Output analysis results

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Geographically Labeling
Network Indices
Geographically Labeling network
indices
Create a thematic map for
network indices. The specific
operating steps are given
below.
1. Add a column in the BTS
topological table to lay the
network indices
2. Open the EXCEL file
including the network
indices in Mapinfo, and the
corresponding TAB file will
be generated automatically.
3. Import the network indices
into BTS topological
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