SPATIAL Tab - MapInfo_Pro - 2023

MapInfo Pro Help

Product type
Software
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Product family
MapInfo
Product
MapInfo > MapInfo Pro
Version
2023
Language
English
Product name
MapInfo Pro
Title
MapInfo Pro Help
First publish date
1985
Last updated
2023-09-12
Published on
2023-09-12T16:39:16.995549

The SPATIAL tab contains commands and command lists for working with tables. It is always available, unless it is minimized. The SPATIAL tab is also available at the top of floating Map and Layout windows.

Clipboard Group

These commands copy and paste selections to the clipboard.

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Copy Ctrl+ C Copies the selection and puts in on the clipboard.
Paste Ctrl+ V Pastes the content of the clipboard. Enabled once you cut or copy a selection.
Cut Ctrl+ X Cuts the selection and puts in on the clipboard. Enabled once you make a table selection of an SQL selection.
Undo Ctrl+ Z Undo/redo last operation. Enabled after you make an edit.

Selection Group

These commands provide methods for selecting objects.

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Select  

Select: Selects one or more map/layout objects or browser rows.

Radius Selection: Selects map objects within a circle.

Marquee Selection: Selects map objects within a rectangle.

Polygon Selection: Selects map objects within a polygon.

Boundary Selection: Selects map objects within an area defined by a boundary in another layer (for example, cities within a county).

Select by Style: Select objects by style. (MapCAD)

SQL Select   Creates a selection by querying using SQL.
Invert   Inverts currently selected map/layout objects or browser rows. Available when objects or rows are selected.
Clear Ctrl+W Deselects map/layout objects or browser rows
Find  

Find (Ctrl+Shift+F): Select an item or row and find the item in all windows.

Find Address: Find an address using a geocoding server. Places a marker on the map.

Mark (Ctrl+F): Find objects by some criteria and place a marker on the map.

Edit Group

These commands edit objects on the map.

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Set Target Ctrl+T Sets a map object as the target for editing.
Clear Target Ctrl+Delete Clears the target selection.
Erase   Erase Target: Removes a portion of a map object using the currently selected object as the eraser.

Erase Outside Target: The portion of the target that is not overlapped by the erasing object is removed.

Combine   Combine Selected Objects: Combines separate map objects into a single object.

Combine Using Column: Combines objects by using common column data.

Split   Breaks target map object using selected cutter object.

Split Target: Separates target object using a cutter object.

Split Target Using Polyline: Separates target object using one single section polyline cutter object.

Polyline Split at Node: Separates single section polyline object at a node.

Split Region Using Polyline: Split a region or polygon object using a line or polyline. (MapCAD)

Disaggregate   Separates objects and their data into their component parts (polygons, polylines, and multi-points).
Buffer   Buffer Objects: Creates a buffer polygon around a selected object or objects.

Buffer Table: Buffers objects in table.

Convex Hull: Creates a polygon representing a convex hull around a selected points.

Modify   Line Intersection: Trim two lines or polylines at their intersection point. (MapCAD)

Fillet/Chamfer): Creates an polyline (fillet) or a line (chamfer) between two line segments corresponding their intersection point. (MapCAD)

Reverse Line Direction): Reverse the line direction. (MapCAD)

Undershoot/Overshoot): Modifies start and end nodes from linear objects close to a reference object. Only the start or end nodes are moved. (MapCAD)

Spline): Creates splines for existing polyline or region objects. (MapCAD)

Scale): Scales an object relative to its anchor point. (MapCAD)

Snap to Line): Aligns objects to clean overshoots and undershoots. (MapCAD)

Nodes S key Snap to Nodes: In Snap mode (S key) the cursor snaps to a node of a map object when it comes within a certain distance.

Segmenting: Adds nodes to a line segment with fixed distance using a defined number of segments. (MapCAD)

Reshape (Ctrl+R): Edit regions, polylines, lines, and points by moving, adding, and deleting nodes that define line segments.

Move Duplicate Nodes: Move identical nodes in different layers at the same time. All Layers that contain objects whose nodes you want to move have to be selectable. (MapCAD)

Add Node (Ctrl+Shift+N): Add a node to a region, polyline or line.

Overlay Nodes onto Target: Adds nodes to the target objects at all points where the target objects intersect the selected objects.

Fix/Clean   Check Regions: Check regions for self-intersections, overlaps and gaps.

Clean Objects: Automatically detects and corrects self-intersections, overlaps and gaps.

Snap/Thin: Snaps nodes from different objects that are close and thin the number of nodes while retaining the general shape.

Smooth Lines: Smooths selected polyline into a curve.

Unsmooth Lines: Returns selected polyline to its original state.

Transform   Offset Object: Moves the selected object by specifying a distance and direction.

Rotate Object: Rotates object by a specified angle.

Rotate Object (MapCAD): Rotate objects using angle or degree and clockwise orientation of left or right. (MapCAD)

Move Along: Selected objects can be moved using a free angle and distance. (MapCAD)

Mirror Horizontally: Uses the centroid of the whole selection as the center point for mirroring objects. (MapCAD)

Mirror Vertically: Uses the centroid of the whole selection as the center point for mirroring objects. (MapCAD)

Align Horizontally: Aligns objects horizontally: objects are centered and evenly distributed one on top of another. (MapCAD)

Align Vertically: Aligns objects vertically: objects are centered and evenly distributed beside each other. (MapCAD)

Convert to Polylines  

Convert to Polylines: Changes each selected object into a polyline object.

Convert Polyline to Line: Changes a single polyline to a line. (MapCAD

Calculate   Calculate Angle: Returns the value of the angle between two straight lines segments. (MapCAD

Calculate Direction: Returns the angle between the horizontal axis and a line segment. (MapCAD

Clip Region   Set Clip Region: Defines a region to be clipped.

Clip Region On/Off: Turn map clipping on or off.

Digitizer Setup   Setup for digitizer hardware.
Clear Map Objects   Deletes selected map objects from the table, but keeps the attribute columns in tact.

Create Group

These commands create objects on the map.

Insert

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Point   Inserts a marker or pin on to the map.
Text   Inserts text on the map.
Cell   Inserts a new cell on the map. (MapCAD)
Orthogonal Points   Creates a point that is at right angles to a reference line. (MapCAD)
Line   Creates a straight line on the map.
Polyline   Creates a polyline on the map.
Arc   Creates an arc on the map.
Right Angle   Creates a line along an approximate direction that is at 90 degrees to an object. (MapCAD)
Perpendicular Line   Creates a line that is perpendicular to a segment of an object. (MapCAD)
Arc from 3 Points   Creates an arc from three points. (MapCAD)
Line Polar Append   Creates a line using distance and angle. (MapCAD)
Traverse Line   Creates a polyline from the distance and angle of each node. (MapCAD)
Polygon   Creates a region (polygon) shape on the map.
Orthogonal Polygon   Creates a polygon with a right angle between the first and last line segment. (MapCAD)
Ellipse   Creates an ellipse (circle) on the map.
Circle from 3 Points   Creates a circle on the map from three points. (MapCAD)
Rectangle   Creates a rectangle shape on the map.
Rounded Rectangle   Creates a rectangle shape that has rounded corners on the map.
Rotated Rectangle   Creates a rotated rectangle using specific width and height. (MapCAD)

Style

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Point Style Alt+F8 Modifies symbol size, color and type.
Line Style Shift+F8 Modifies line color, pattern and width.
Region Style Ctrl+F8 Modifies the color, pattern and outline of closed objects.
Text Style F8 Modifies text color, font and size.
Cell Style   Specify the current cell and manage the cell library. (MapCAD)

Regions

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Convert to Regions   Changes each selected objects into a region object.
Convert to Rectangle   Change the selected object to a rectangle. (MapCAD)
Enclose (Polylines to Regions)   Creates regions from polygonal areas enclosed by polylines.
Drive Regions (Objects)   Creates time or distance buffers around objects.
Drive Regions (Table)   Creates time or distance buffers for a table.
Voronoi (Objects)   Partitions the map space into cells from a designated set of points. Each cell is an area in which the contained points are closer to the enclosed site than to any others.
Voronoi (Table)   Partitions the map space into cells based on a point layer from a table, selection or query. Each cell is an area in which the contained points are closer to the enclosed site than to any others.

Dimension

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Dimension Line   Creates a dimension line in a separate layer. (MapCAD)
Continuous Dimension Line   Generates measurement lines with cumulated distance and distance to objects. (MapCAD)
Intersecting Arcs Calculates the intersection of two arcs using center point and radius. (MapCAD)

Create

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Create Points   Creates point objects for a database table using X and Y coordinates.
Line from Table   Create line objects from a table. (MapCAD)
Polyline from Table   Create polyline objects from a table. For details, see the MapCAD Help. (MapCAD)
Circle from Table   Create circle objects from a table. For details, see the MapCAD Help. (MapCAD)

Geocode

Icon Command Keyboard Shortcut Description
Geocode Points   Geocodes records using MapInfo Pro's built-in geocoder.
Geocode using Server   Geocode records using a geocoding server.

MapCAD is a tool that plugs in to MapInfo Pro on startup. Some commands on the SPATIAL ribbon are from MapCAD. To read more about how to use MapCAD commands, see the MapCAD Help: On the PROtab, select Add Ins, and then under the section titled MapCAD, click Help.