MapInfo 6.0

Web-related

• New hot-link tool button to link map objects to specific urls, spreadsheets, or other documents.

• New MapBasic add-on to generate hot-spotted html pages (aka "image maps") based on your MapInfo map.

Our Opinion:

• The hot-links are a "me too" feature, in that ArcView has long offered and third-parties (including SGSI) have long offered the same functionality via free or low-cost MapBasic add-on's.   Still, it is great to see MapInfo embrace the concept and--better still--extend MapBasic to make the functionality controllable programmatically.

• The MapBasic utility to create hot-spotted html "image maps" we think will be even more widely used.  It will give many organizations an inexpensive way to get maps on the web--albeit as static not dynamic images. 

• Note:  "Image maps" are not a substitute for MapXtreme or MapXsite, MapInfo's widely-used interative web map server software options.

3d Perspective views

• Three-dimensional perspective viewing is helpful for visualizing terrain and other grid map layers.

• Note that this is not a 3d perspective viewer for zip code, street or other non-grid map layers.  It applies only to grid maps, although 3d grid map layers can have street map layers draped over them.

Access 2000 + Multi-User enabling

• Read/write data for all versions of Access, including Access 2000.

• MapInfo users can now read/write Access databases even if the databases are also open and in use by completely different Access applications.  This has been a frequently-requested feature.

• New improved direct OCI support for Oracle 8i  at Revision 8.1.6 and continued support for Revision 8.1.5.  Note that this is direct OCI support, not just ODBC.

Better color printing

• Define your personal preferences for important parameters related to color display and color printing.

• 24-bit Color printing is now supported for the first time.   [24-bit color display has been supported for some time.]

• A new color printing method is available which should speed up printing for some users.

• New Object menu options:  e.g., build a region enclosing all points in a table; build a region from simple street lines.

• More style and alignment control over cartographic (non-thematic) legends.

• Choose 1 of 3 alternative clip methods to constrain the area to show in a map windows.

• Better Scale Bar, and other included MapBasic utilities.

Download MapInfo 6.0