This section describes that a map is the visual representation of data files where each data file displays as a layer on the map.
MapInfo Pro helps you analyze your data on a map for activities such as appraisal, conservation, forecasting, planning, surveying, demarcating, tracking, or managing. You can tailor maps to your specific uses for analysis.
A map is a visual representation of data that has location. MapInfo Pro displays data on the Earth, such as country boundaries, but can also display data that is relative to itself, such as a building floor plan. Seeing data visually on a map gives you the locations of where things are, the relative importance of things through the use of symbols or colors, and the relationships between locations.
Data must be in the form of tables. MapInfo Pro displays data tables as layers on a map. Each table is a single layer and a map may have many layers (tables) on display. For more information about how MapInfo Pro represents data on a map, see What is a Layer?.
A data table organizes information by rows and columns, so that you can easily visualize and manage information in a database, such as SQL Server, or in data management software, such as Microsoft Excel. MapInfo Pro access data tables in a database directly or lets you import data tables to work with them directly in MapInfo Pro's native .TAB format.
Data is represented on a map as an object, such as a point to mark a location, a polygon to mark the boundaries of a region, or a line to mark a route.