Manifold GIS

Manifold GIS is a newer, low-cost GIS developed for the Windows operating system, written entirely in Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET. The latest release continues to adhere to Microsoft standards by adopting multicore processors and full 64-bit computing.

Employing mathematicians and computer scientists, the company began its work in 1993 for the massively parallel supercomputer project between Intel Corporation and the U.S. Department of Defense, creating a series of graph theory and computational geometry libraries along with a series of “visual workbenches” to access the libraries. Users of the geometry libraries convinced the company to redeploy the product as a commercial GIS in 1998.

Since 2002, Manifold typically issues new software releases every 6 months. The software releases include anywhere from 200 to 400 improvements and bug fixes, in addition to major architectural and function improvements. The standard GIS software is priced at $245 and includes virtually all the necessary functions found in modern GIS software, such as full coordinate projection support, on-the-fly coordinate projection between multiple geographic layers, database queries, topology construction, full topological overlay routines, spatial containment queries, and buffer creation. In addition, the standard edition includes a suite of raster processing functions and the ability to integrate enterprise class databases within the software. The full suite of products (Ultimate Edition), priced under $800, adds more robust functionality, such as an Internet Map Server, multiuser concurrent editing of spatial databases, integration of Oracle Spatial, full raster GIS processing, routing, and geocoding.

Although the product has an extremely low price point compared with other commercial software, Manifold GIS has also introduced numerous innovations not found in many other products. As an example, rather than developing a separate Internet mapping server (IMS) product, Manifold's IMS application is integrated within the desktop software, allowing Internet developers to tap into the full programming object model of the desktop software. The integration of the desktop and IMS product also allows users to more easily create IMS applications by reusing the desktop's cartographic display, stored queries, and database linkages within the IMS applications.

Manifold GIS also makes full use of spatial constructs within its Structured Query Language (SQ)L engine, creating an ideal geoprocessing language for nonprogrammers. The spatial SQL capabilities exist for both vector and raster operations and allow users to dynamically create vector and raster data from stored SQL procedures. Other innovative concepts include fuzzy neurologic for database queries and dynamic linking and vector/raster creation from thirdparty databases and Microsoft applications, such as Excel and Access.

Due to its low price and strict adherence to Microsoft standards, many users of Manifold GIS are not traditional GIS users, but are typical Microsoft Office users, attempting to leverage spatial functionality within their applications. However, more GIS users from academia, municipalities, and the private sector are beginning to use Manifold GIS as either a stand-alone solution or a [Page 274]way to augment an existing GIS installation using more traditional GIS software.