SuperMap Bridge Operator — safety-gated GIS agent control

What this is

This skill is the operating manual for the open-source supermap-gis-bridge MCP package. The bridge itself is free on GitHub — you are not paying for code. You are paying for the know-how that makes an agent run it correctly: environment discovery, the calibration order, the set_map write-back rule, the label-thematic path that actually persists to disk, a field-tested error table, and a reporting discipline that forbids the agent from claiming success it didn't achieve. All of it distilled from calibration on a real machine, not from API docs.

Verified (real machine: SuperMap iDesktop 10i (2020), iObjects Java 10.1.0, iobjectspy 10.1.0.0)

• Headless trio — preflight (environment + license check), backup (timestamped copy with sha256), inspect (workspace inventory on a copy) — fully verified end-to-end.
• Live bridge: 13/13 tools exercised in file-fallback mode (the bridge works on a workspace copy; the desktop GUI does not refresh in this mode). Read-only inventory and view tools, plus 3 write tools that require confirm=true.
• The preflight output shown on this page is a real run on that machine, verbatim — not a mock-up.

Not yet verified (stated up front, not in a footnote)

• iDesktopX true live mode (in-app bridge, GUI-synced): never run on a real iDesktopX — the development machine has iDesktop 10i only, no iDesktopX. The skill ships a guided first-run calibration sequence for iDesktopX and instructs the agent to report whichever mode it actually got.
• Other iDesktop versions and builds: not calibration-tested. Version-mismatch errors are treated as stop-and-report, not retry-until-it-works.
• The package self-test (6/6) verifies the protocol layer only. It does not prove a live link to your iDesktop, and the skill says so.

What it will never do (by design — these are refusals, not missing features)

• Write to your original workspace files. Originals are read-only; all work happens on a backup copy, and the agent must report the copy's path.
• Delete datasets, layers, or datasources. There is no delete tool, and no bulk attribute editing either.
• Execute arbitrary code. There is no code-execution tool in the bridge.
• Fill in confirm=true on its own. That flag is the user's decision, per specific write, in the conversation — the agent is instructed to ask first.
• Describe file-fallback operation as "live control of the GUI", or rephrase a failed tool call as a success. Raw outputs are quoted verbatim; a claim without raw output counts as not executed.
• Listen anywhere except 127.0.0.1, behind a per-launch random token.

Who this is for

• SuperMap iDesktop 10i users who want an AI agent (any MCP-capable client) to inventory, back up, and cautiously operate their projects.
• GIS teams who need an audit trail: timestamped backups, sha256 hashes, verbatim tool outputs instead of agent summaries.

Skip this if you only have iDesktopX and expect verified, GUI-synced live control today — that mode is a guided calibration exercise, not a verified feature. Also skip it if you need deletions or bulk edits done by the agent; this operator refuses both, permanently.

What you get

• SKILL.md — the operating manual: setup, workflows, safety discipline, the 13 live tools by risk tier, and the error quick table.
• reference/calibration-and-api-facts.md — real-machine calibration facts: version pins, the set_map write-back rule, the label-thematic persistence path, and the first-run calibration order for unverified environments.
• reference/workflows-production.md — copy-first discipline for producing deliverable workspaces and 3D scenes, with CRS/field-name pitfalls and a delivery checklist.

Not included: the bridge code (free and open source on GitHub — the skill tells your agent where to get it and how to set it up), and SuperMap itself (see Requirements). No subscription; one-time purchase, yours to keep.

Requirements

• Windows, with your own licensed SuperMap iDesktop 10i (the calibrated environment) or iDesktopX (unverified live mode — see above). SuperMap is commercial software and is not included; no license, no bridge.
• Python 3 (iDesktop ships an interpreter with iobjectspy for headless work).
• The free supermap-gis-bridge package from GitHub.
• An MCP-capable AI agent client.