MapInfo Professional

MapInfo Professional is a Desktop Mapping System software product produced by MapInfo Corporation.

MapInfo Professional has the ability to combine and display, on a single map, data from a variety of sources that are in different formats and projections. The software is capable of overlaying raster and vector layers on the same map; the former can be made semi-transparent, so that they can serve as more than mere backdrops.

MapInfo is popular both in business and the public sector, where a typical user is analyzing pre-built map data layers.

History
MapInfo Corporation was founded in 1986 and its first product was MapInfo for DOS. This software could be customized by using the MapCode development environment which was a C-like programming language. The DOS product was eventually discontinued and replaced by MapInfo for Windows.

In 1990 MapInfo was redesigned with an easier-to-use graphical user interface and was made available for the Microsoft Windows, UNIX and Macintosh platforms. The MapCode development environment was replaced with a new language MapBasic. Version 4 of the product, released in 1995, saw the product renamed "MapInfo Professional".

MapInfo Professional is no longer available for the UNIX and Macintosh platforms.