MapInfo Pro

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  • 1.  Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 07-24-2020 11:36

    I'm experiencing some difficulty using WFS services with MapInfo Pro and wondered if anyone had got it working in any practicable way? These issues are with v16 and v17 versions of Pro and I don't have access to later versions at the moment.

    The WFS backs on to a database containing a large (many millions) of features so it's impossible for Pro to grab and cache the whole layer. I'm using the Row Filter option with "geom, BBOX, CURRENT_MAPPER" to restrict the data fetch to features in the current view. The data comes in and everything looks good so far. The service has a generous "maximum features per transaction" so we don't have any problem there.

    When I pan the map to a new area, the WFS does not automatically refresh. This is fine as its not always desirable to auto-refresh (although it would be nice for Pro to have an option in a future release). Under the Table ribbon, there is a Web Services dropdown which contains "WFS Table Refresh". A dialog box appears, I select my single WFS and it appears to be fetching new data but my mapper window does not fill with new content. In fact, I believe it's just refreshed the same data from the original/previous view.

    Under Web Services, there is also a "WFS Table Properties" option, which brings up a dialog similar to Open WFS Table. Clicking on the Row Filter button, I see it's changed to "geom, BBOX, Previous Selection", which seems to support my theory that it's refreshing the previous view. Putting this back to "CURRENT_MAPPER" results in the correct refresh. This is obviously not a very good process for someone wanting to get regular WFS content updates as they move around a map.

    In the backstage area (Pro menu option), there is an option for Web Services and a tab specific to WFS. The first option is "Update Mapper Filters with Current Mapper", which (to me at least) means the "geom, BBOX, Current Mapper" row filter should be retained and the CURRENT_MAPPER bounding box values updated. This option, however, doesn't seem to change any behaviour that I've seen.

    Has anyone got WFS (against a large service database) refreshing in a satisfactory manner? It doesn't seem to be working in a reasonable way so have I missed something?



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    Regards,
    Warren Vick
    Europa Technologies Ltd.
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  • 2.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 07-24-2020 11:41
    Looks like a similar problem was reported by Gerben Vos a few weeks ago. But, if it is a bug, it's been around since at least Pro v16!

    https://community.pitneybowes.com/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=19&MessageKey=eaab54fa-07ed-41d1-97eb-edcb532604b3&CommunityKey=fe4d1ee2-f1c6-4307-87d2-00bea1344885&tab=digestviewer&ReturnUrl=%2fcommunities%2fcommunity-home%2fdigestviewer%3fcommunitykey%3dfe4d1ee2-f1c6-4307-87d2-00bea1344885%26tab%3ddigestviewer

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    Warren Vick
    Europa Technologies Ltd.
    London, U.K.
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  • 3.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Employee
    Posted 08-03-2020 07:24
    Hi Warren

    It is a bug, and apparently introduced with the ribbon interface.

    Our initial thought was that the issue only occurred when you used the Refresh option from the small Refresh icon next to the table in the Table list. But it seems to be a more general issue. The current map isn't used when refreshing a WFS table.

    The only workaround I have found is to go to the WFS Table Properties, check the Row Filter settings, and change it to CURRENET_MAPPER.

    Unfortunately, you'll have to do this every time you want to refresh the table.

    We seem to have fixed the bug now. It'll work again in MapInfo Pro v2019.3 coming out this autumn.

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    Peter Horsbøll Møller
    Distinguished Engineer
    Pitney Bowes Software & Data
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  • 4.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-16-2021 07:48
    Hi Warren and Peter
    Did this get fixed in v2019.3?

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    John Ievers
    CDR Group
    Hope Valley, United Kingdom
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  • 5.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-16-2021 08:16

    Hi John,

     

    I'd love to know, since we're living in the past on v17.

     

    Regards,

    Warren Vick

     






  • 6.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-17-2021 09:37
    Hi Warren
    Unfortunately this is a known issue with the OS WFS API. MapInfo is not handling the paging of features in WFS layers correctly. Even in v2019.3
    Need some votes on the Ideas Portal to get management to recognise the demand....
    Support Ordnance Survey WFS API for base mapping | Precisely Ideas

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    John Ievers
    CDR Group
    Hope Valley, United Kingdom
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  • 7.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-17-2021 09:57
    John,

    Paging support for WFS is a high priority item for the upcoming release. We are looking into the possible implementation now.

    Regards,
    Andrei

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    Andrei Veselov
    Pitney Bowes Software Inc.
    Troy NY
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  • 8.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-17-2021 10:57
    Great news.
    Thanks Andrei

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    John Ievers
    CDR Group
    Hope Valley, United Kingdom
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  • 9.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Posted 02-17-2021 11:00

    Hi John,

     

    The WFS problem I had with older versions of Pro was that it was not refreshing when the view changed (even if forced). Paging is not so much of an issue for me as my services have a high WFS transaction limit (20,000) and are intended to consume everything a user may need to map a local area in one go. Services like OS Data Hub, however, use a low value of only 100 objects (their unit of billing) , so any Pro issue with paging will be problematic with these services (in addition to any refresh issue, if it's still there).

     

    Regards,

    Warren Vick

     






  • 10.  RE: Difficulties with WFS refresh in Pro

    Employee
    Posted 02-23-2021 02:25
    Warren, we are looking into the WFS Refresh issue again.

    It seemed that we got it fixed with one specific service but when trying to use it with other WFS services, it still fails.
    Will keep you posted.

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    Peter Horsbøll Møller
    Principal Presales Consultant | Distinguished Engineer
    Precisely | Trust in Data
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