Customer Reviews

Understanding MapInfo: A Structured Guide

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Dr. Johnson is a thoughtful writer as demonstrated in this book on MapInfo. He makes the distinction that MapInfo is a desktop mapping system, as opposed to what we think a "true" GIS (one attached to a large server) should be. As a 14 year user of MapInfo this book cleared up some mysteries for me and gave me insight as to why MapInfo Corporation chose to build their application as they have.

MapInfo is a great stand alone desktop mapping solution, practically indistinguishable from what is considered a GIS, but is usually used in stand alone data collection applications. It is an inexpensive and very powerful program (ever ask an ESRI user how much it costs for the add-on package to do datum transformations) that delivers on it's promise to be fairly easy to learn and intuitive to use. Dr. Johnson introduces you to the application and how to use it, as well as what you have a right to expect MapInfo will do for you and what it won't, in a fairly straightforward and practical manner.

There are some good general references of using MapInfo in the natural sciences and some field examples as well. All in all I found this book to be well worth the time and funds I invested in it. Very well done.

The writer is an experienced user of MapInfo, and this book descripes how to use the software from a users point of view. I describes the forces and how to overcome some of the weekness of this great GIS program.