How to Create a New ODBC Connection on Windows 10

A modern GIS Software supports ODBC Data Sources. ODBC is a universal database connection that works like a bridge between the GIS software and the back-end databases such as MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL and many others. For example, Mapinfo Discover supports ODBC connections. Which means, we can open tables that are stored in various database formats in Mapinfo Discover. Before we can use the ODBC connection, we need to create a new ODBC connection. In Windows 10, you can follow this guide to create a new ODBC connection.

Steps to create a New ODBC Connection on Windows 10

Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | ODBC Data Sources. Then, a new window will open up.

There are several Tabs in the ODBC Data Sources window. Click User DSN and then click Add.

Select the database driver from the list. If your database type is not listed there, you may need to download the ODBC driver for your database. For example, by default, the MySQL ODBC driver is not installed. Thus, we need to download and install the driver for MySQL. You can download MySQL ODBC driver from this link. For PostgreSQL, you can download the driver from here. After you install the driver, you may need to start over.

OK, now select the database driver from the list. On this example, I am going to use the MySQL Server driver.

Enter the MySQL server database details including IP address or hostname, port, username, password and the database name. Click OK. Now your new Data Source should be visible in the list.