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MapInfo Pro Integration Introduction

Introduction

A common workflow when an organisation builds or receives a new asset is to create a new feature for the asset in MapInfo Pro, and then create a corresponding asset in Assetic. Assetic has created a set of data capture integration tools to ensure that a new asset in Assetic is linked to the correct feature in MapInfo Pro.

 
Note: This integration is designed to be used with MapInfo Pro version 2017.0.3 and 2019.0 onwards.

 

The integration supports the following actions:

  • Create Asset in Assetic
  • Update Asset in Assetic - updates the asset attributes
  • Create Functional Location
  • Update Functional Location

 

For asset creation and update the following are optionally supported:

  • Component and network measure
  • Spatial definition
  • Functional Location association

Integration Architecture

When MapInfo Pro 2019.1 onwards is installed it includes an option to install Python.   This integration utilises that python framework.

 
Note: MapInfo Pro versions 2017.0.3 and 2019.0 also support Python however it is not part of the MapInfo Pro installation.  Instead Python is installed independently of MapInfo Pro and and MapInfo Pro is able to utilise the python installation via environment variables that need to be manually created.  Further details can be found at the following Pitney Bowes (Precisely) link: Understanding Python Support in Mapinfo Pro 17.0.3 The VSCode Debugging Option can be skipped.

 

A MapBasic executable (addin) is used to initiate the loading of the Assetic python integration tools.

  • AsseticAddin.mbx

 

The python tools have 2 components:

  • AsseticAddin.py
    • python script that is initiated by AsseticAddin.mbx
  • assetic_mapinfo python package
    • python package published by Assetic, initiated by AsseticAddin.py

AsseticAddin.py

AsseticAddin.py is called by the MapBasic code upon startup of MapInfo Pro. It must have the same name as the addin (i.e. AsseticAddin.mbx).

This script is responsible for adding a new 'Assetic' tab to the MapInfo Pro ribbon and creating buttons within that 'Assetic' tab.  The buttons are used to initiate the integration processes.

assetic_mapinfo Python Package

Assetic have built a python package 'assetic_mapinfo' that provides tools for creating and maintaining asset records in both Assetic using MapInfo Pro layers as the data source. The 'assetic_mapinfo' package assists with getting relevant asset detail from a MapInfo Pro feature and applying that detail in Assetic, and if necessary updating the MapInfo Pro feature with relevant detail (such as an asset ID generated by Assetic on asset creation). The 'assetic_mapinfo' package itself relies on the generic Assetic python SDK packaged as 'assetic'.

 

Next Steps

  1. Install the Assetic MapInfo Pro Integration package assetic_mapinfo.  Refer to the following article: MapInfo Pro Install Integration Package
  2. Create the configuration files required by the assetic_mapinfo package.  Configuration is detailed in the article MapInfo Pro Integration Configuration
  3.  Install the MapBasic executable that loads the Assetic integration into the MapInfo ribbon.  Installation is detailed in article MapInfo Pro Install Assetic Addin
  4.  Run the integration: MapInfo Pro Integration Execution