ProRaster Essential

Welcome to the ProRaster Essential product page!

Please download the product guide, the feature sheet, and the user guide to learn about the product.

For the latest updates to ProRaster Essential, please visit the Product Updates page.

You can safely and securely purchase and download ProRaster Essential from the Microsoft Store. Hit the “Get it” button and you will be taken to the Microsoft Store where you can purchase and download the software.

Alternatively, follow this link to the ProRaster Essential store website and from there you can access the Microsoft Store. Or, simply open the Microsoft Store on your PC and search for “ProRaster Essential”.

You can install ProRaster Essential for a free trial period of 7 days! Make the most of this opportunity and make sure the data you want to experiment and test with is to hand before you install the application and start your free trial. After the trial period ends you can return to the Microsoft Store to purchase the product if you wish.

Read about the advantages of purchasing apps on the Microsoft Store.

ProRaster Essential gives the MapInfo Pro business user access to advanced raster rendering capabilities. For users of the MapInfo Pro Advanced raster plugin, ProRaster provides a rich new set of raster rendering capabilities. If you do not have the MapInfo Pro Advanced raster plugin, ProRaster will provide a modern, advanced raster rendering capability in MapInfo Pro 2021 (or later).

Freedom from restrictions

When you render raster datasets in MapInfo Pro you have always had to define how those rasters are rendered – in ProRaster this is called a “raster rendering algorithm”. MapInfo Pro ties this information to the raster – meaning an algorithm can only use a single raster and that raster can only be rendered in one way in all maps. ProRaster algorithms provide you with total flexibility and freedom from any restrictions.

Performance

The raster engine in MapInfo Pro is designed to enable rendering of rasters of unlimited size at any scale in constant time, but the imperfect integration of the raster engine into MapInfo Pro prevented this goal from being achieved. ProRaster algorithms solve the performance problems in MapInfo Pro.

Quality

ProRaster makes sure that you are always rendering the best quality data, at the most appropriate resolution. Pixel perfect, always correct, always presented at its best, and under your control.

Ease of use

ProRaster is easy to use – simply drag and drop your raster into ProRaster to get started. Then hit Publish to push the algorithm into a map in MapInfo Pro.

How ProRaster Essential improves MapInfo Pro

Display the same raster in the same session in different maps in different ways.

  • Use any combinations of rasters, fields, and bands in an algorithm.
  • Drape (hill shading) any raster on any other raster.
  • Clip algorithms to a complex polygon set when publishing to MapInfo Pro.
  • Display raster imagery in true color without enhancement and drape on any raster.
  • Render classified rasters the way you want to without restrictions and drape on any raster.
  • Use Driver Preferences to modify how particular rasters are mounted by the raster engine.
  • Eliminate performance bottlenecks with large rasters by reprojecting on-the-fly to the map projection.
  • Render hundreds of related rasters using a single layer.
  • Optimal data acquisition at any scale with on-the-fly reprojection.
  • Create default algorithms for rasters and raster sources.
  • Edit multiple algorithms simultaneously with preview, undo and redo
  • Interrogate raster values interactively in the preview map with a floating tool tip.
  • Override raster coordinate systems if unknown or incorrect and find the right projection quickly using the interactive projection selection dialog.
  • Access a growing library of video resources, documentation and articles to help you get the most from ProRaster.
  • Use a wide variety of data transforms for LUT Color and RGB Color layers.
  • Exercise fine control over histogram equalisation (fast, stable, gradational, with clipping).
  • Sigmoid transforms provide an alternative to linear and histogram equalisation transforms.
  • Fit the data transform to the data range in the map.
  • Create and edit color tables, maps and legends.
  • Use color table maps and legends to provide fixed data – color maps.
  • Clip to limits in multiple combinations.
  • Enjoy fine control over hill shading and balance color and hill shading smoothly.
  • Exercise precise control over data interpolation settings for color and hill shading.
  • Render any algorithm in greyscale.
  • Manage your raster collection in the raster source editor.
  • Access all rasters by wildcard in a folder or multiple folders and render using a single layer.
  • Get access to rasters stored in ZIP archives (not all raster formats support this).
  • Validate, Clean, and Prepare processing operations compute statistics and build overviews.
  • Access detailed raster information and statistics.

Software requirements:

  • Windows 10 or 11
  • MapInfo Pro 2021 (or later)

Hardware requirements:

  • 4GB RAM
  • Multi-core CPU recommended

Restrictions and Exclusions!

ProRaster Essential is exclusively designed for users of MapInfo Pro 2021 (or later versions). It is targeted at the business GIS user. As such, it has a limited set of functionalities in a more streamlined user interface.

Please note the following restrictions in ProRaster Essential –

  • Exporting the rendered algorithm to a located image raster is not supported.
  • The Data Transform Editor is not supported.
  • The Data Conditioning Editor is not supported.
  • External resizeable map windows are not supported.
  • Multiple layers in an algorithm are not supported.
  • Opacity components are not supported.
  • Layer transparency and blending are not supported.
  • Event selection is not supported.
  • Data conditioning filters are not supported.
  • Transform raster sources (basing the data-color transform on the statistics of a different raster source) are not supported.
  • Format support in the GDAL driver is very limited. For example, the WMS driver is not supported, preventing the use of web mapping services.

If you require one or more of these features, then you ought to consider ProRaster Premium as an alternative.

For a full list of all the features in ProRaster Essential, please refer to the ProRaster family product page.

Advice!

The only mechanism for exporting your map from ProRaster Essential is to publish the map in the latest version of MapInfo Pro.

There are a number of known inconsistencies between ProRaster and MapInfo Pro, which may cause the appearance of your rendered algorithm to differ in MapInfo Pro from the expected visualisation shown in ProRaster.

These issues are known to exist in MapInfo Pro 2021.1, the latest version at the time that ProRaster Essential was first released. Roberts Geospatial Engineering is hoping to work with the MapInfo Pro engineering team to resolve these issues in a future patch or release of MapInfo Pro.