Importing large tiled datasets (e.g. Ordnance Survey) into MapInfo?

Question

I am currently using MapInfo and have several large Ordnance Survey datasets, which require updating. They are tiled .tiffs and need to first, be registered as .tab files. Second the .tab files need to be imported to mapinfo and thirdly turned into a seamless table.

The process I used is quite longwinded:

1. I copy the paths of the .tiff files and paste into excel and build the columns around it to create this line for each file e.g.

   **Register Table "X:\Ordnance Survey\25k_raster\nx\nx15.tif" type "raster" into    "X:\Ordnance Survey\25k_raster\nx\nx15.tab**
   

2. I add this list to the workspace file using a text editor and then I build a line in excel which then opens each of the tab files e.g.

   **Open Table "X:\Ordnance Survey\25k_raster\nx\nx15.tab" As nx15 Interactive**
   

3. I add this second list to the bottom of the workspace file, save then open the workspace. It takes a while but eventually it has registered and opened all the files. I then proceed to create a new seamless table from the open tables in mapinfo.

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I guess my question is. How do you do this kind of import with mapinfo? do you know of or use any tools which would do this process for you? Maybe you have a quicker workaround?

Answer 1

I have found a better way to speed up this process. Once you have registered all the .tif files as tabs like I showed in my question, do the following:

1. Create a .csv with a full list of your .tab paths ( search for .tab files in windows explorer, *select all, 'shift + right-click', 'copy as path). Then create a second column with formula MID to extract just the name of the 6 character tiles

   e.g. =MID(a2,34,6)

2. Download the ordnance survey GB tiles .tab (OSGB_GRID_?km.tab) in the right size for your dataset e.g. 5km (currently looking for the place I downloaded them from).

3. Open the OSGB grid tiles and the .csv in MapInfo then use SQL Select:

   Select Columns: (both columns from .csv: filepath and tilename)

   From Tables: (both OSGB grid .tab and .csv)

   Where: (tilename from .csv = tilename from OSGB grid .tab)

   This will geocode the .csv as .tab save this .tab file.

4. The final step is to turn the newly created .tab into a seamless table. Do this by opening the .tab file in a text editor and adding the line: "\IsSeamless" = "TRUE". See example below:

You now have a seamless raster dataset! This process takes a lot of the MapInfo processing time out of the equation so you don't have to sit there wondering if MapInfo has crashed or is still working away!