Release: Tileserver basemap tool for MapInfo

[Brendan Stone]

Hi all,

A few weeks back someone was after some attractive basemaps to use within MapInfo which were similar to those found in ArcGIS/Online.

Well I've put together a quick tool which does exactly that. It adds a 'Basemaps' menu option with various styles which you can quickly add to your maps.

It currently includes multiple maps from Openstreetmap, ESRI, Acetate, Stamen and as a little bonus, some cool real-time overlays from OpenWeatherMap.

The tool is customisable so you can easily add your own tileserver based basemaps.

More info and the download link (MBX and source code) can be found here: http://blog.nadnerb.co.uk/?p=125

Give it a try and let me know if you have any comments or issues.

Cheers

Brendan

[Data Directions]

Hi Brendan,

 

A fantastic effort and just what I was after!

 

I was not aware of the Acetate or Stamen backgrounds, but can also see uses for those too.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

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[Robert Crossley]

Brendan,

 

Well done.  I fiddled with this a while ago and made no progress.

 

R

[James Moloney]

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for the generous comments on your blog. I am glad that my example made sense and has assisted with your development.

Just downloaded the mbx and works great! I will be forwarding on to a few of my clients.

Cheers

James

www.mapbasichelp.com

[Zery]

Hi Brendan,

What a great app, thank you for the effort. Unfortunately when I try to compile it against MapBasic 10 it produces an error on line 77. After a short look I'm sure ApplicationName$() function was not known by MapBasic 10 but it was introduced in MapBasic 10.5.

Thanks,
Montazery

[Carlos Eduardo Lima]

Thanks Brendan.

rgs

[Brendan Stone]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I have just uploaded a new version which has added a GNU license, modified some code which prevented compilation in pre v10.5 MapBasic and added a menu option to launch the XML file for editing. No major changes so no need to re-download if you have it already.

@James, thanks for the example, it probably saved me hours of fun trying to figure it out myself!

@Zery, I've modified that line of code now, however, if I remember correctly, tile server support was only added to MapInfo in 10.5, so while my application may now run on v10 or below, you won't be able to open the tile server tab files. 

Cheers,

Brendan

[Sunnie]

Hi Brendan

I like this

Very good work mate!

This is something that small councils will love.

Sunnie

Had no problems using it and running v12

[Tim S]

This is really useful, thanks!

[Nick]

Nicely done!

[joeg...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, June 24, 2014 5:46:35 AM UTC+8, Brendan Stone wrote:

Great tool. Most impressed. Thanks. Joe DB

[Ed]

Hi Brendan,

this is fantastic, I've been wishing for openstreetmaps level of resolution for the cities for some time.

Thanks,

Ed

[Thomas Bacon]

This is fantastic! Great work and many thanks Brendan.

 

Regards,

 

Tom Bacon

GIS Engineer, Mouchel

T 01444 472380 │ E thomas...@mouchel.com │ W www.mouchel.com

Our values: innovation │ excellence │ integrity │ responsibility

 

From: mapi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mapi...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Brendan Stone
Sent: 23 June 2014 22:47
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MI-L] Release: Tileserver basemap tool for MapInfo

 

Hi all,

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[Nesh P.]

Thanks for this great tool Brendan !

[Brendan Stone]

Has anyone tried this tool with 12.5 yet?

It seems Pitney Bowes have changed one of the DLLs within MapInfo so the functions this tool requires are no longer there or have been moved/renamed.

So right now it's not compatible with 12.5.

The good news is the functions only relate to the dynamic XML menu system, so I may remove this functionality and just have a fixed menu with a few basemap choices.

Unless anyone knows what happened to GmlXlat.dll in Mapinfo 12.5?

Thanks

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

Hi Brendan

That does look a bit weird.

In my English copy of MapInfo Pro 12.5, I can only find a file called "MapInfo.GmlXlat.dll"

But in my Danish 12.5 I have "GmlXlat.dll" as well as "MapInfo.GmlXlat.dll"

I'll try to find out what has happened

Peter Horsbøll Møller

Pitney Bowes Software

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Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 01:02:43 -0700
From: nad...@gmail.com
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [MI-L] Re: Release: Tileserver basemap tool for MapInfo

[Brendan Stone]

Thanks for looking into it Peter - strange it's there in the Danish version.

I tried recompiling in MapBasic 12.5 pointing to  MapInfo.GmlXlat.dll instead but it said it couldn't find the required functions.

I also tried copying the missing DLL from v12 to v12.5 but it didn't like that either.

Brendan

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

Hi Brendan

I can see that we did change the naming of the gmlxlat.dll file in the v12.5 release.

Not sure about the Dnaihs, but that also still a pre-release so that might change in the final release.

I noticed in the XMLib.def file in my MapBasic 12.5, the references to the XML methods have changed as well.

And they now refer to the new dll:

Define MIXML_LIB_NAME "MapInfo.XmlUtil.dll"

Declare Function MIXmlDocumentCreate Lib MIXML_LIB_NAME Alias "MIXmlDocumentCreate" () As MIXmlDocument

Declare Sub MIXmlDocumentDestroy Lib MIXML_LIB_NAME Alias "MIXmlDocumentDestroy" (

ByVal hXMLDocument As MIXmlDocument)

...

Can you make sure that your application is using the def file from the MapBasic program folder and not a local copy stored with your sourcecode?

Peter Horsbøll Møller

Pitney Bowes Software

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Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 02:55:11 -0700
From: nad...@gmail.com
To: mapi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MI-L] Re: Release: Tileserver basemap tool for MapInfo

[Brendan Stone]

Thanks for your help Peter, it was indeed pointing to a local copy of the .DEF and not the 12.5 version.

It now successfully compiles and runs on v12.5 so shall upload a new version of the tool just for v12.5

Thanks again!

[Warren Vick]

Hello Brendan,

 

Couldn't you just upload a set of TAB/XML pairs and avoid the software woes altogether? It's perhaps easier for storing the basemap services in a workspace too.

 

By the way, your web site mentions that you've found best results with a tile size of 230, but 256 is by far the most common tile size. Tile gets stretched out of shape enough without starting with a squashed version!

 

Regards,

Warren Vick

Europa Technologies Ltd.

http://www.europa.uk.com

[Brendan Stone]

Hi Warren,

Of course you can just create your own TAB files and access via File>Open, but the main reason for this tool is to have a nice selection of basemaps right there in MapInfo just a click away. It also means should anyone want to make a customised list of basemaps they can easily distribute it with just the one XML file.

Also, saving a workspace after opening a basemap with this tool works fine, since it is just using a standard TAB file it has generated. You can also navigate to this location and open that TAB like any other.

As for the tile size, I'm aware 256 is the most common tile size and is what most (all?) of the included tile services use, but I don't believe the value used in MapInfo/this tool refers to the actual size of the PNG returned, since that is a fixed size set by the service supplier - unlike a WMS service where you could specify a size. 

From my testing with MIv12 when developing this tool, the tilesize value in the XML seemed to be related to the way MapInfo determined the level of the tile it fetched based on the current map scale and width in MapInfo . So no stretching/squashing ever occurred by changing this number, only scaling of the 256 tile.

I definitely notice improved clarity in the image when changing this number with some basemaps at some map window sizes.

See this example using the OSM tile service included with MapInfo: on the left is 256 width/height and the right is 230. Neither is quite right, but I much prefer the 230 version.

http://nadnerb.co.uk/files/OSM_tilesize_example.png

Try it yourself, just change the values in the XML and then view the basemap under the exact same conditions (map window size, x, y, scale etc)

Then resize the map window and you'll see it changes again, maybe 230 is worse, or maybe they are identical.

I've no idea why this is, I guess it's just how Mapinfo handles tile services. I know the tiles are all rendered nicely at each level - using leaflet/openLayers confirms this.

Regards,

Brendan

[Mike Sullens]

Brendan,

I've been following along as I have a few uses for this tool in 12.5.  Could you send me a note when you update the download.

Thanks!

Mike

[Nguyễn Văn Thị]

Thanks for sharing,

Could you add Google Map, Google Satellite into the tool?

Vào 04:46:35 UTC+7 Thứ ba, ngày 24 tháng sáu năm 2014, Brendan Stone đã viết:

[Brendan Stone]

It may be possible, but I believe it would be against the Google Maps API license.

[phamkhai tan]

Realy interesting. Thanks

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[jcoleman...@gmail.com]

Has anyone found a server for an ERSI Hybrid map?  I have to do a lot of work in v15 and use this tool.  The Bing Hybrid has been increasingly "off" by 20-30 feet in a lot of areas/states we work in over the past few years.  I can't have poles staked with sub-foot accurate gps units show up in the middle of the road on our maps.  There is no hybrid in this tool and if I stack roads & satellite imagery, the enormous watermarks take up too much real estate on my staking sheets/maps.  If any has any resources or ideas, it would be greatly appreciated.  I've been using MapInfo for 26 years and the thought of having to switch to ArcMap (or whatever the current program is) is not appealing to me whatsoever!

Our current work around, when we have to use ESRI imagery, is to also bring in Census/Tiger roads, turn the symbology off and label the roads.  This is a bit clunky though and is not always the best data.

[geog...@sprynet.com]

I have the same issue with Bing. As a workaround I download the imagery I need with global mapper in the projection I am using and load that into mapinfo. That solves the issues with sample points showing up on roads when they shouldn’t be.

Barbara.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mapinfo-l/7d359802-0871-44fb-a8e4-850681cb2077n%40googlegroups.com.

[jcoleman...@gmail.com]

I downloaded the trial to check it out, but I'm having trouble finding a hybrid satellite imagery map.  Is there one in it that I'm not seeing?  Thanks.