Happy #MapInfoMonday!
Over the last few months, our engineers have worked on a few things related to MapInfo Pro and AI:
They have built an MCP server for MapInfo Pro that allows you to communicate with MapInfo Pro from your favorite AI Chat Assistant, like Claude.
And they have also built an AI chat window that runs directly inside MapInfo Pro and connects to your Large Language Model (LLM), for example, GitHub Copilot or OpenAI.
We have gathered this in an add-in called MapInfo AI, which is now available through the MapInfo Marketplace for MapInfo Pro v2023 or newer.
Let me show you some of the benefits of MapInfo AI.
Labeling using MapInfo AI
Let’s start with a simple example. You can ask MapInfo AI to help you label a layer:
“Label the planned fiber lines with the length”
MapInfo AI will check what it has to work with. It checks the available tables, maps, and layers.
With this, it determines which layer I’m referring to.
It now checks for existing columns that can be used and decides to use a dynamic expression for calculating the length of the polylines.
It rounds the number nicely and adds a distance unit to the label, too.
“Load and map data from this folder "C:\Maps\2025\ Fiber Planning Gainesville\Data"”
MapInfo AI starts scanning the specified folder for files it can open. And then it starts importing these into MapInfo Pro.
Query using MapInfo AI
Let us try with a query example. I’m looking for parcels with no buildings:
“Highlight parcels with no buildings on the map”
Notice that I told it to highlight the result, and I didn't specifically tell it to use SQL to find these parcels.
You can follow its thinking in the Chat window.
It tries a few SQL Select statements that don’t work. Then it decides to split the process into two: Find the parcels that do have buildings and then use this to find those that don’t.
Create a New Map using MapInfo AI
You can also use MapInfo AI to create a new map with either existing base tables or query results.
Let’s create a map with a focus on the planned fiber lines, and the addresses and buildings nearby:
“Create a new map showing only the planned lines and the addresses and buildings within a distance of 250 meters from these. Use a road map as base”
As before, you can follow how MapInfo AI plans and executes the work in the chat window, and in the map, layers, and queries that have been created.
I did specify to use a road map style base map, so MapInfo AI picks the Bing Road base map.
Configuration of GitHub Copilot
You need to connect MapInfo AI to a large language model. I’ll walk you through how you can connect it to your GitHub Copilot account. This requires that you have a GitHub account with Copilot access.
Click on the AI Assistant control on the Home tab to open the AI Assistant window.
The AI Assistant window opens, offering tips on how it can help you.
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Peter Horsbøll Møller
Principal Presales Consultant | Distinguished Engineer
Precisely | Trust in Data
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