This MapInfo Development Areas section will house various topics that need more development before yielding maximum benefits. Contributions in any form are more than welcome because the subjects generally extend beyond the limits of my knowledge or experience and will gain from external input.

The various topics will be structured in such a way that areas of sollicited contributions will be well identified and that external input will be clearly inserted where it counts.

I hope that this section will become a forum for public involvement in defining and building new work environments.

TEXT OBJECTS

 

The handling of text objects has always been the source of difficulties for programmers. In the pdf document that is offered for consultation (directly from here) or download (as a zip file from the left panel), I have tried to summarize the principles built in the MI text objects and some of their consequences. I have also outlined some features that are real handicap in the present (6.5, and I have seen nothing to exclude 7.0) state of the program. Finally, I have included some sketches of tools for going around these difficulties.

 

The document can be used in 3 different directions:

 

1- for getting a better understanding of what are really text objects and of the MB resources to handle them

 

2- for drawing specifications for tools to support programmers in that area, and for bringing those tools to the public

 

3- for preparing a documented request to MI to consider improvements in that area

 

CELL MAPS

 

Cell Maps are made of elements (regions) of uniform shape, possibly of different sizes, that cover the study area (not necessarily rectangular). If that was not enough to make them different from Raster Maps, Cell Maps can carry in the same table many different variables compared to one only for Raster Maps.

 

In the pdf document (in FRENCH only  for now, sorry) that is offered for consultation (directly from here) or download (as a zip file, from the left panel), I have collected all I know on the subject in order to offer some basis for further development. I believe that even if MI may not be the best suited of all software to support this kind of application, it offers an untapped potential that should prove to be most interesting if some tools and procedures were readily available.

 

As the areas of contributions are many and because of the language question, they are presented in some details in the "Cell Maps" page. Synthesis and summary will be done in both languages.

 

CARTES CELLULAIRES

 

Les cartes cellulaires sont constituées d'éléments (régions) de forme unique mais dont la taille peut varier, qui recouvrent la région à étudier pas nécessairement rectangulaire. Si ces deux caractéristiques n'étaient pas suffisantes pour les distiguer des cartes raster, les cartes cellulaires peuvent porter dans la même table plusieurs variables alors qu'une carte raster n'en a qu'une seule.

 

Dans le document PDF offert en consultation (directement d'ici) ou pour téléchargement (fichier zip, dans le panneau de gauche), j'ai rassemblé tout ce que je savais sur le sujet de façon à offrir une base de développement. Je crois que même si MI n'est peut être pas le meilleur logiciel pour ce genre d'application, il offre un potentiel inexploité qui devrait se révéler des plus intéressants une fois que certains outils et procédures seront disponibles.

 

Je propose dans la page "Cartes Cellulaires" une série initiale de sujets sur lesquels vos contributions seraient des plus appréciées. Rien n'empêche l'ouverture vers d'autres horizons. Je m'efforcerai de maintenir un sommaire synthétique de toutes les contributions dans les deux langues.