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MapInfo Monday: Adding Precisely Data as Backdrop Map

  • 1.  MapInfo Monday: Adding Precisely Data as Backdrop Map

    Employee
    Posted 5 days ago
    Edited by Peter Møller 5 days ago

    With MapInfo Pro v23.2, you can access several of the datasets from the huge Precisely data catalog via APIs from the Data Integrity Suite.

    This means that instead of buying and downloading a full dataset for a country, you can access the same updated dataset via a service and only pay for what you use.

    The data can be accessed as a backdrop raster map via WMS or WMTS, or you can query the datasets and bring down the features as vectors. In this article, we will look at the raster map options.

    Happy #MapInfoMonday!

    Signing into the Suite APIs

    Before you can use the data from the Data Integrity Suite inside MapInfo Pro, you need to have access to a Suite Workspace that has subscribed to the APIs. If you don't have access to a workspace, you can get a trial workspace set up for you. If you are interested in trying out these new services, reach out to our Digital Sales Team to request a Trial Suite Workspace. You can use the contact form.

    With a Suite Workspace in place, you can sign into it from within MapInfo Pro.

    Go to the Backstage via the Pro tab. Now, click on the Suite Services tab.

    You can also contact our sales team via the Contact Sales button.
    Use the Sign In link to sign into the Suite. Enter your credentials in the form of email and password in the Suite Sign In Window.
    If your credentials get validated and you have the needed subscriptions, you will be signed in. You can see the details of the login and the workspace in the Suite Services tab.

    Adding a WMS/WMTS backdrop to a Map

    The Data Integrity Suite allows you to add the Precisely Data as a backdrop to your map in two ways. You can use the WMS or the WMTS protocol.

    WMTS is typically faster than WMS because it uses pre-cached tiles. WMS, on the other hand, has the advantage of supporting Feature Query that can return attribute information for the features.

    From the Services tab, you can access the different ways you can access the Precisely Data in the Suite. Today, we will lokk at the first two: WMS and WMTS.

    If you click on the WMS control on the Services tab, you will be taken to the WMS Service for the Suite automatically. This has been added to the new WMS Servers list. If you are using a Work Group installation and are using a local copy of the `WMS Server list, you will have to add the WMS Service for the Suite manually to the WMS Server list.
    You can now select the WMS Layer you want to include in your resulting backdrop layer. I'll select the parcels layer from the properties group. I double-click on the layer to move it to the list on the right.
    Note that the resulting table is automatically named after the first added layer.
    I can now click on the OK button to open this WMS table into my map.
    The resulting map looks like this.
    The benefit of accessing the data via WMS is that it also allows me to bring multiple layers into the same WMS table.
    In the Open WMS Table dialog below, I have selected three layers to be included. Besides parcels, I have also included buildings and addresses. I have named the resulting WMS table Properties.
    The resulting map looks like this.
    If I zoom closer into the map, the addresses also appear, and I can use the Info tool to inspect the objects and their attributes. You can see the attributes in the Info window on the left.
    It is just as simple to add the Precisely Data to the map as WMTS tables.
    When you click the WMTS control on the Services tab, you are shown the WMTS layers from the Suite.
    In the Open WMTS Table dialog, you only have to select the WMTS layer that you want to open. The resulting WMTS table is automatically named after the selected WMTS layer.
    Click the OK button to add the WMTS table to your map.
    The list of datasets and geographies available is growing and will also be available through MapInfo Pro.
    In the upcoming articles, we will look at some of the typical use cases that can benefit from the Spatial Analytics APIs of the Data Integrity Suite that you can use from within MapInfo Pro. Stay tuned!



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