Connecting to a Microsoft SQL Server Database

Microsoft SQL Server Spatial uses two different schemes to organize spatial tables. The default scheme (used in SQL Server 2012 and later) uses a set of proprietary system tables to store spatial information such as the projection used, etc. Global Mapper expects SQL Server databases to be using this organizational method by default.

The second scheme uses tables called geometry_columns and spatial_ref_sys to store information about spatial tables.  In order to use such a database with Global Mapper:

  1. Open the Configuration dialog
  2. Under General > Vector Options select "Microsoft SQL Server: Read tables using MS SQL Server 2008 scheme

If your SQL Server database is used as the underlying database for Esri ArcSDE*, you should use an Esri ArcSDE Spatial Database connection instead of a Microsoft SQL Server connection.  

*Note that connecting to an Esri ArcSDE database requires the 32-bit version of Global Mapper.

NOTE: Microsoft SQL Server users, Windows Authentication allows a user to connect to the spatial database using his or her current Windows login credential. (To use Windows Authentication, Check the radio button, 'Use Windows Authentication'.)

Use the Password field to specify the password required to connect to the database. If the selected database connection has a predefined password, then that value will be automatically entered into this field. This value can be overridden, if needed, by changing types in a different password. The stored database connection definition will not be changed.

After you have selected a connection and entered a user ID and password, click the Open button to bring up the Spatial Database Import Options dialog to choose a table from the database.

The Cancel button quits the process of opening a spatial database.

The Help button displays the Global Mapper help for this dialog.

NOTE: In order to import data from or export data to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or higher, you must have a Microsoft SQL Server ODBC driver installed.

For more information on using Global Mapper with Spatial Databases, please see the Spatial Database Support section of the Help Documents. Some data is stored in an MDB format, these files may also be loaded into the application.