Dear List Thanks again to all those who helped with this and esp thanks to Sheila Quan who provided the main base for this task and also the little mbx tool. Here is the final version of what was done.
To produce a hot spot Map in MapInfo was relatively straightforward. First SQL is used to select a particular type of habitat and a query table for a particular habitat results. Then the Create Thematic mapping option is selected. By following the wizard's instructions within the thematic mapping nearly everything can be achieved. First, the Range Template is selected. Then at the next stage, a 1 km grid table is selected and the "join" option is selected in the field box (it does not seem to matter with the map plots whether contains or intersects is used - it gives the same result). Next the value is derived from the new habitat table to the SQL selected habitat (query1) and the count is calculated. This takes a very short time to do. A great little mbx tool (Fix Shade) was used to produce a MapInfo table with exactly the same colouring as in the thematic mapping. The resulting map could also be saved using SQL. It should be noted that the legend from MapInfo is a little irritating as it presents the data groupings (e.g.) as 0-1, 1-3, 3-6, 6-11 etc, when it means 0, 1-2, 3-5, 6-10, etc. It wasn't, however that much of a problem changing the legend to what the new dataset actually represents once the way in which the data had been grouped was understood. The amalgamation seems a bit more convoluted so it may well have to be put aside for the moment. All the best Jacqui Middleton
