Pitney Bowes MapInfo Professional - Manual (Page 164)

Getting Started
To access data from a DBMS, you need to set up a connection to it. In addtion, any DBMS tables that
contain spatial data that you want to see on a map must have a record created for them in a special
table called the MapInfo Map Catalog. This record contains information about the spatial data. The
process of creating this record is called "making the table mappable". An overview of the setup process
is provided under
Overview of the DBMS Access Setup Process .
You can access the following types of spatial database servers. To locate the version numbers that
MapInfo Professional supports, see the MapInfo Professional Install Guide.
• Microsoft SQL Server (also called SQL Server Spatial)
• Microsoft SQL Server with SpatialWare
• Oracle Spatial
• PostgreSQL with PostGIS
You can work with point and textual data from:
• Microsoft Access
• Any Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) database
This document refers to accessing data from a DBMS or a web service as "remote data access".
You can access ESRI SDE and Geo databases in read-only mode through Open Universal Data,
see
Displaying your ESRI Shapefile Data .
Note:
Overview of the DBMS Access Setup Process
Install a Database Driver
Access to a database server is through a DBMS driver, which you install on to your machine and is
specific to the DBMS you want to connect to. A driver allows MapInfo Professional to connect to the
database. Each type of database supplies its own driver. You may need to obtain the driver from your
database administrator and have your database administrator help you set up properties for the driver
after installing it.
For the version numbers that MapInfo Professional supports, see the MapInfo Professional Install Guide.
Prepare your Connection and Database
To work with your DBMS data in MapInfo Professional, you need to set up your database connection
by following the steps in the sections:
1. Creating a Data Source Connection
There may be prerequisites, in addition to installing a driver, that you need to connect and work with
a database. Each of the following sections provides details:
• Creating a Data Source Connection to SQL Server
• Creating a Data Source Connection to PostGIS
• Creating a Data Source Connection to Oracle
When you connect to a data server, you will have two choices: to use windows authentication or
to provide a username and password unique to the data server. Windows authentication is the
username and password you use to log in to your network. Depending on how your database
server is set up, you may only require your windows authentication to log in. Otherwise, you would
provide a username and password that is unique to the server. Your database administrator will
tell you whether or not you can use your windows authentication or a username and password
specific to the server.
MapInfo Professional 12.5 164
Getting Started