Merging multiple .tab files?

Question

I was wondering if there was a quick way to merge multiple .tab files together? I have about 100. Would appending one tab to another with the MapBasic window open, then changing the name of the table appended to TableInfo(1,1) work?

Thanks, Alan

Answer 1

If you don't want to use MapBasic (although there is really no reason you couldn't I just can't write the code off the top of my head) you can use OGR2OGR - a handy tool for any GIS pro to have in their toolkit.

There is a good start here http://gis-programming.com/?p=194 on the details of the code snippet below.

You can do something like this in a batch file:

for %f in (*.tab) do (
ogr2ogr -update -append merge.tab %f  -f “MapInfo File” -nln merge )

Loop over all the TAB files in the current folder and append to the merge.tab file

Note: If the above doesn't work try this:

for %f in (*.tab) do (
ogr2ogr -update -append merge.shp %f  -f “esri shapefile” -nln merge )
ogr2ogr merge.tab merge.shp -f "MapInfo File"

Answer 2

The best solution for this many files would probably be to use FME which is specifically designed to perform tasks like the one you have.

I just checked my copy and it supports .tab files and can output as a single merged .tab file, or a number of other formats, should that be more suitable. The software is not cheap, but a full 14 day trial is available for download from their website, which would be more than enough for you to run your conversions.

Answer 3

There are plente of tools available that can help you perform this task. Have a look at the site called MapInfoTools.com.

I think the tool Append2 could help you out