As a GIS user it can be interesting to work address locations. In my case I wanted to look at distances to carrier fiber to understand optical coverage. For example, what is the carrier fiber coverage for Detroit, or the suburbs of Dallas, or more rural areas even. The address needed for a comprehensive analysis of the US requires over 186 million address locations. I was able to take the address data and load it into MapInfo Professional using the Extended TAB format. This format saved me from having to split up the data and manage multiple files. I was able to use Spectrum to determine how far away each address from the closest carrier fiber route. Then I selected the addresses that were within 30 miles and made an Extended TAB file with over 183 million rows. With some zoom layering I am now able to review addresses all over the US.
Keller, Texas is 32 miles north west of downtown Dallas has 54% of its addresses between 1,000 and 2,000 feet of carrier fiber. A map of the area shows the orange address pockets inside the city:
Here's an area in eastern Los Angeles showing address pockets that are between 1,000 and 2,000 feet away from carrier fiber:
Information like this can help analysts review the character of their network coverage using carrier fiber and address locations.
I've used extended TAB format extensively since its release and I've found a few things that I think are worth sharing. When loading address data from a text file (in my case a csv) you get better results if you don't set the Extended TAB format during the import:
Do not create a copy in TAB format on the import. Even if you have the TAB format option set to Extended it is better to let MI Pro import the text data as a regular table (no spatial information) and then export it as an Extended TAB file:
Once this is done then use the data like you would use a TAB file.
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Lamont Norman
Product Manager - Big Data, Cloud Native and Telecommunications Data
Pitney Bowes
Boulder, CO
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