Map for EMEA Region

Cognos 8 Business Intelligence Report Studio
1

Hi all,

Does anyone know how / where I can get a map that I can use in Cognos 8.4.1 for the EMEA region only? (Europe, Middle-East, Africa). I have been searching but cannot find it.

Thanks in Advance,

Martina

2

should be delivered with 8.4.1
C:\Program Files\cognos\c8\maps

3

Hi Ferran,

There are separate maps for Europe and Africa, but not for Middle-East. Moreover, the requirement is to use 1 map to show all 3 area’s. Using the World map would mean that only a small portion of the map would be used. So what I am looking for is 1 map with Europe, Middle-East and Africa on them and not the rest. I do not see a map like that in the folder that you have indicated. Maybe I am overlooking something…

Thanks and Regards,

Martina

4

Hi MArtina,

Cognos 8 uses maps that are stored in a Cognos proprietary format (CMF). These are used in Report Studio by the author to define what map rendering will occur (in a similar way to setting up any chart). When the report is run the map is rendered according to the appropriate queries using our own display
technology.

Maps can be put into CMF using the Cognos Map Manager utility - a Windows app that will read data stored in MapInfo format and convert into CMF. The only format we currently support is MapInfo TAB files
that must be “bound together” as a MapInfo GeoSet. Users can create their own maps provided they create these MapInfo files typically using a product such as MapInfo Professional.

C8 will ship with an assortment of common maps, in CMF, including those for the world, continents and a number of countries (e.g. Canada, US, Japan, Australia and many of the European countries). We do not supply the original MapInfo TAB map files.

ESRI (a 3rd party mapping software company) has two major formats (“ArcInfo” - ArcGIS; and, Shapefiles) while MapInfo has two (MID/MIF and TAB).

The Cognos view to the outside mapping world is via the MapInfo map format called TAB. This is the only 3rd-party map format that Cognos Map Manager can import.

You have two basic choices to get maps into TAB file format:

  1. “Pull” data into TAB format:
    For example, you can use MapInfo’s “MapInfo Professional” product can read ESRI ShapeFiles - this will often require the ESRI user to convert their production data into ShapeFile format, which is not especially difficult. ESRI provides the tools for creating SHAPE files for no charge. Go to http://www.mapinfo.com to download an evaluation version.

  2. “Push” data into TAB format:
    For example for ESRI users using ARC/Gis, they can use ESRI’s translator (see below) and create TAB files directly. This will likely be preferable for those that only want to use ESRI tools and not have to buy
    MapInfo Pro.

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/datainteroperability/

Remember: regardless of how the TAB files are created there must also be an associated GEOSET file
(*.GST). This can be created either with MapInfo Pro (which can be bought - or downloaded for evaluation) or using “GeoSetManager”. GeosetManager is installed with C8 and can be found in the bin directory.

Specifically, you can run c8\bin\mapx\GeosetManager50.exe:

Create a new Geoset (File > New Geoset)
Add layers (Map > Layer Control)
Save the Geoset (Files > Save)