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MapInfo MapInfo: Creating Tab Files for Raster Files

  • 1.  MapInfo MapInfo: Creating Tab Files for Raster Files

    Employee
    Posted 03-11-2024 06:34
    Edited by Peter Møller 03-11-2024 06:41

    Happy #MapInfoMonday!

    Last week, I was asked by a longstanding customer about upgrading an old 32-bit tool. The tool was used to create TAB files for raster files.

    It turned out the tool wasn't necessary anymore.

    These days, raster files are always delivered with spatial reference information baked into the file itself. That's at least the case with the newer formats such as GeoTIFF, ECW, and MRR. You may still come across a few formats that do not contain this information.

    Some older formats only have part of the spatial reference information: the corner coordinates. But they are missing the details about the coordinate system. If so, MapInfo Pro will prompt you for these details.

    There are two ways to get TAB files created for raster files:

    1. Through the Open dialog
    2. Through a Raster Processing Window like the Merge Window.

    Create Raster Files through the Open Dialog

    Click on the Open Table control on the Home tab. In the Open dialog, select Raster Image from the Files of Type list. The dialog will now list all files of the many raster formats that MapInfo Pro supports.

    Select one or more raster files and click the Open button.
    MapInfo Pro will now try to open the selected raster files. To do so, a MapInfo Table will be created. If MapInfo Pro doesn't find all the needed spatial reference information in the selected raster files, you will be prompted to supply the missing information, such as the projection.
    In my example, the ESRI ASCII files do not hold any information about the projection. MapInfo Pro now brings up the Choose Projection dialog, allowing you to select the correct projection.
    Once given, MapInfo Pro will create the TAB file, open the table, and move on to the next raster file.
    If you are opening more than one raster file, you will be prompted for the projection detail for each raster file.
    In this case, check out the second option.

    Create Raster Files through the Merge Window

    As we discussed above, opening multiple raster files with missing projection information can be painful through the Open dialog.

    Let me introduce another way.

    From the Raster Operations dropdown on the Raster tab, click on the Merge control.

    In the Merge window, use the Browse File button to select the raster files you want to create tab files for.
    After clicking on the Browse File button the Open Raster File dialog opens allowing you to browse to a folder and select one or several raster files. Make sure you only select raster files that use the same projection.
    MapInfo Pro will now check the selected raster files. If one or more raster files are missing the matching TAB file, this file will be created. Again, just like before, you will be prompted to select a projection if that information isn't available.
    But during this process, you will only be prompted once. The chosen projection will be used for all the raster files you selected. This is also why it's important to only select raster files that are using the same projection.
    Besides remembering the selected projecting for all selected raster files, you may also experience that this method is faster than the first one described. It's taking advantage of capabilities in MapInfo Pro Raster.
    Back in the Merge window, you can see that the raster files have been added to the Raster to Merge list.
    That's it. You don't have to merge the raster files unless you want to.
    There can certainly be benefits to merging raster files if they all are a single element of a larger dataset. You can read more about that here: MapInfo Monday: Merging multiple grid files into one.
    If you look at the folder with your raster files, you will see that a tab file has been created for the raster files, that you selected.
    I hope you found this useful. Stay tuned for more #MapInfoMonday articles!



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