Creating a Map of US Regions

This is a simple example that combines a variety of Manifold features to create a simple map that shows the United States as six differently colored regions.  The map shows which states are included on various TIGER/Line 1997 CDs.   This is the actual procedure used to create the map that is on the TIGER/Line page of this website.  We simply made screen shots and took notes as we created this map.   Click on the thumbnails to get bigger images.

This example proceeds the way an experienced user would do this task.  It includes some steps that are not strictly necessary, but which make the job visually more elegant or faster, or that prepare the map for greater use in the future. Some steps, such as the use of Clone Objects to create the drop shadows, use sophisticated methods to achieve a simple result quickly.

Note: This is not the simplest possible way of creating this pretty map.  It is the way an experienced user would create the map so that it will be of greater value to him or her in the future.

If you are not already a Manifold user, do not be put off by the step-by-step nature of this presentation. We've shown every moronic detail and thus ended up writing pages of stuff to describe what happens in real life in just a few quick mouse clicks.  It's really, really easy to do maps like this in real life.  Make sure to visit our Case Studies page for more detailed examples.

Prepare a Base Map of the United States

We will use the basemaps/US_Main map on the Manifold CD.   This is a map of the United States where each state is an Area object (a "polygonal coverage" in ESRI-speak).   The map is provided on the CD in unprojected form.  We'll copy it from the CD and then prettify it a bit.

Step 1: Copy map from CD - Use Windows Explorer to browse over to the CD and copy US_Main.mfd and US_Main.mdb to your working directory on hard disk.  Right mouse click on these files, choose Properties from the pop-up menu, and then in the General tab make sure that Read-Only is not checked and click OK.  When files are copied from a read-only device such as a CD using Windows Explorer, they are placed on your hard disk as "read-only" files and must be made writable.

Step 2: Load US_Main base map - Launch Manifold.  Use File - New to browse over to US_Main.mfd as an existing map and open it.  The "New" bit in "File - New" means we are creating a new workspace by opening an existing map.  The default display shows US_Main as an unprojected map using default style for the areas: a simple black and white hatch pattern.

Step 3: Convert to pretty projection - We have friends who are cartographers and who expect to see a US map in a pretty projection, instead of the "flat look" provided by an unprojected map.  We'll take a moment to convert the map to a cool projection.  Click on Tools - Projections and in the Target part of the dialog select Lambert Conformal Conic (LCC) for the projection.  Enter sensible values (see illustration) for first and second standard parallels and latitude/longitude origin.  In simple projections, we'd just enter a latitude/longitude origin that's about in the center of the US, like latitude 38 and longitude -96.  A more complex projection like the LCC allows us to specify first and second "standard parallels" as well.  Why the LCC and not some banal, overused projection like the Mercator?  We like the LCC because it provides a cool cartographic shape to the map.  Click Convert to convert the projection. The result is shown in the thumbnail at right.

Improve Base Map Aesthetics

  We are now going to "prettify" the map by using a solid Area style, and then we will enlarge the map rectangle so the US map doesn't looked jammed into too small a display area.

Step 1: Format in solid area style and teal green color - Click on the Format button and click on the hatched Area style sample.   Select a solid color Area style (black square in illustration) and then click on the color well and change it to a nice, teal green.    The map is now drawn in solid color, all teal green.

Step 2: Enlarge Map Rectangle - The map looks too hemmed in by the border.  We'd like to enlarge the map rectangle so that there is more "blank space" on the edges of the map.  To do this, we click on the Enlarge Map Rectangle button (it's in the "morph" toolbar) and move the slider toggle a little bit to enlarge the rectangle.  The result is illustrated at right.

Step 3: Save the workspace -  You must save the workspace under some name to cause permanent changes to the underlying map files being used.  Also, because Manifold has no global "undo", it is wise to not only save your workspace from time to time, but to also make copies of the map files and workspace files involved from time to time and to save them in some temp directory.  That way, if you completely gum up the works, you can always copy back one of the previously archived versions and start over without losing all of your work.   This is the last time we will remind you in this case study to save your work regularly.   In all the following steps, take a moment to save your work!

Add a New Data Field to the Database

(Optional) We will add a data field called Disc that provides a numeric code for each region.  This is optional, but it is something an experienced user would do so that in the future regions can be more easily manipulated.   This will enable us to quickly and simply add a number (1 through 6) for the "Disc" field to be that region's CD number.   We will do this at the same time we are selecting the various regions to color them differently.  The routine will be as follows: we'll select a group of states, specify a color for them, click open Selection Table View, and set the value for Disc for that region.  But first, we need to add this field to the database.

  Step 1: Open Table View - Click on the Table View button to open the map in Table View.    The US_Main map has state names, state abbreviation, and the state FIPS code for each state.  We want to add a new field called "Disc" to give the CD number where that state's data is found.

  Step 2: Add a numeric field called "Disc" - Click on the Add Field button in the Table View toolbar.  Add a numeric field called "Disc".   The result will be a new column (ie, field) in the table view, as illustrated at right. Close Table View.

Color each CD Region

Now we will select each region, color it, and set the values for Disc.  To make this convenient, we will set the Selection mode so that we select areas by touching them and so that each area touched is added to the existing selection.

Step 1: Set Selection Modes - The image above shows the settings for the selection toolbar buttons.  From right to left these settings mean: select by touch, select Areas only, and add any selected objects to the previous Selection.   If the "-" button had been pushed in instead of the "+" button indicated, that would mean that any object touched would be subtracted from the previous selection.  If we click on a state we don't want in that region, just change from the + selection to - selection and click on it again.

[Editor's note: Manifold has super selection methods.   Besides touch select, one can select with an open or closed cursor box, freehand "lasso" select and more.  Push in the object buttons so that only those types of objects are selected.  For example, if you wanted to select all lines and points indicated by your selection method, but not areas, you'd push in the Line and Point buttons and leave the Area button popped out.]

Step 2: Select states in CD region 6 - CD 6 contains the states of the West Coast on this map.  Because manifold.net is a lot closer to the Pacific than the Atlantic, we start here.  Click on California, Washington, and Oregon.  As each is clicked, it will change color to Red, the default Selection color to show it has been selected.  The result is illustrated at right.

[Editor's note: OK, so we selected three states on the West Coast.  Suppose we wanted to deselect these and instead select all the other states?  We can do this in one step in Manifold: switch to invert selection mode by pushing in the "+-" button, and then use a box select to draw a mouse cursor box that encloses the entire US.  In one step, the West Coast states will be deselected and the other states selected. The Replace, Add, Subtract, Invert, and Intersect Selection mode buttons provide cool Boolean combinations between what you're selecting with the mouse and what was previously selected.  Sure beats heck out of some $3,000 GIS's, doesn't it?]

Step 3: Pick a convenient formatting regime - We're going to apply a new color to the states selected.  The quickest way of doing this is to set up the formatting toolbar as indicated above.  The buttons pushed in say we're going to format Areas only and  we'll format only what's in the Selection.   Clicking on the color wells or the size well (where a size "8" is showing) will thus be applied only to the Areas that are in the Selection.  We're doing to do this because we will be coloring in six regions.  It's convenient to use the formatting toolbar to change colors on all selected areas at once.  There are other ways of changing color (like, using the Format button we used earlier in this case study to change the color of the entire map), but this is the quickest and easiest way for what we are doing now.

Click on the green color well and change the color to purple, so that the format button looks like above. The bright red West Coast states will still be displayed in the red selection color.  If you'd like to see how they'd look in the specified color, the best way to do so is to toggle Use Selection Color button OFF.  We usually toggle this button OFF to check the color applied and then toggle it ON again so that we don't lose track of what's in the Selection.

Change the value of Disc for all West Coast States to "6"

Optional, but something an experienced user would do in a hearbeat.  We want to change the database so that Disc contains 6 for all the West Coast states just selected.

  Step 1: Open Selection Table View - Click on the Table View button that has a splash of red selection color to open a Table View that shows only the Selected objects.  As you can see, Manifold toolbar buttons that work with the Selection usually have a splash of red color in them.

  Step 2: Highlight all the rows - The Selection Table View opens with only the three states selected (California, Washington, and Oregon) in Table View.  We will highlight all the rows and then change the value of Disc all at once.  You can highlight all the rows by CTRL-clicking on each row in the usual Windows way, or you can simply click on the Highlight All Rows button in the Table View toolbar.  Using the button is easier when you have a lot of records (as we will encounter, for example, when we get to CD 1).

Step 3: Change the value of Disc - Use a CTRL-click mouse click into any of the Disc field boxes to open an edit box there.   Put in the number 6 and hit the Enter key.   Because you CTRL-clicked into the box, this value will be copied into all the Disc field boxes for all the highlighted records.  UNIX heads may think "Gee whiz, who'd ever think of that?" but this is very standard Windows technique and is typical of operations within tables on virtually all standard Microsoft applications.  The illustration at right shows the Selection Table View just after the new value has been entered and automatically copied into all the highlighted rows.

At this point, you can close Selection Table View or simply leave it open or minimized.  If you change the Selection, what's in Selection Table View will automatically be updated to show what's in the current Selection.

Repeat Process for other Regions

  We now need to repeat the process we used to select the states on CD 6, to format them, and then to change the values of Disc for them, but now for the states in the various other regions.  If you toggled Use Selection Color OFF earlier to check out the purple color you used to format the West Coast states, toggle it back ON so they are shown in the red selection color.

  Step 1: Deselect states in CD 6 - To do this, simply press the Deselect All button.  This clears the selection, and the West Coast states will no longer be displayed in red selection color, but in the pretty powder purple color we specified earlier. 

Step 2: Click on the states for CD 5 - This is really easy.  Just click on each state that is to be associated with CD 5.   As you click on each one, it turns red to indicate it is part of the Selection.

Step 3: Click on the color for CD 5 - Click on the color well used earlier in the formatting toolbar, but this time change the color to a tan or beige color.  This will change the color of the Selected states to that color.

Step 4: Open Selection Table View, Change the Value of Disc to "5" - Open Selection Table View if you closed it earlier and note it is now loaded with the records for the selected states.  Highlight them all and CTRL-click into the Disc box for the first record and change the value to 5 and then hit Enter.  This will change the value of Disc to 5 for all the highlighted records.

Step 5: Repeat for remaining regions - OK, now we hit the Deselect All button and repeat the selection, format, "Disc" field change cycle for all the remaining regions.  When you get to Region 1 on the map, there are lots of small states that are difficult to click using Touch select.  Instead, we'd change the selection method to Open Box Select.  This selects all objects any part of which is inside the mouse cursor selection box.  Drawing a couple of open boxes rapidly selects all the states in the North East that are part of CD 1.

Step 6: Admire result -  The result is a map that looks like the illustration at right.  You can use your own colors, of course, and you might wish to use different zoom to make the map larger or smaller, or to zoom into a particular area.  You can also change the background color, the styles used for areas and more.  However, our experience is that simple maps are easily interpreted maps.

Add Labels for CDs 1 through 6

We need to add text labels so that our viewers know what the various regions mean.  Having created  this map a few times  to prepare this case study, we would likely first move the various regions away from each other to make an "exploded" map presentation and only then make the text labels, but the first time we did this example we made the text labels first and only later thought, "Hey, it would be cool to move the regions away from each other to make an 'exploded' map." So, that's the way we'll do it in this case study.

  Step 1: Insert the first text label - Click on the Insert Text Label button. Note that in Manifold, buttons that create something usually have a little yellow star (a typical Windows convention for toolbar button iconography).   Now, every time you click in Map View, a text label will be created and a dialog box will pop open prompting you for the text to use.  Labels are created using whatever format was specified for the last label formatted, or using the default format if no formatting changes have been specified.  Click somewhere in Oregon and specify 6 as the text to use for this label.  It will be created using the default format, a rather boring, plain "6".

Step 2: Insert a caption for the map - We'll create one more boring text label.  Click somewhere above the map to insert a text label, and enter the text "TIGER/Line 1997 CDs".  Don't worry about how this label is positioned.  After we're done creating and formatting all the other text labels, we'll simply drag each one to the position we want so everything looks good.

Step 3: Open the Format Label dialog - We would like to improve the visibility and elan of the "6" label.  To do so, Right Mouse Click on the label and select Format Label from the pop-up menu that results. This will open the Format Label dialog that allows you to set all sorts of clever and pretty display characteristics for this label.

Step 4: Specify a circle box and cool font - We'll leave the colors alone in ordinary black and white, but we'll change the font using the Font button in the dialog to Tahoma, in 10 point size.  We'll also specify using a circle label box. The thumbnail at above right shows the settings used in the Format Label dialog. Hit Apply.  The result will be a label that prints the text "6" in Tahoma 10 point font in black on white with no special effects, inside a circular label box that consists of a black border and white box background. The illustration at right shows how the label will look after formatting.

Step 5: Create labels for all the regions - Click at about the center of each region on the map to insert a text label. Use the text "5" through "1" for each label, corresponding to the region.  Note that each new label "inherits" the last label style used and is created using the same circular box / Tahoma font / black and white label formatting we specified in the previous step.

Step 6: Make the caption label prettier - Right mouse click on the "TIGER/Line" caption label, select Format Label and change the font to 10 point Tahoma while leaving everything else alone.  This will make the title line prettier.

Step 7: Move labels around for aesthetic effect - Click the Insert Text Label button OFF.  If you don't have any other buttons ON (like, for example, a touch select button or whatever), you can simply drag any text label to a new position.  Take a moment to drag the labels around slightly to make adjustments to get exactly the right effect you want.

Step 7: Pause to admire results - At this point, your map should look like the illustration at left. Many people would be content with this map just the way it is, without investing any additional effort.  It's a simple, immediately comprehensible map.   If desired, one can fool around with different color combinations. Changing the background color to black (use Tools - Options - Fonts and Colors), and changing the formatting of the "TIGER/Line ..." caption to white color results in the display at right, for example.

[Editor's Note:  In this example, we created "unbound" labels, which are simply "floating" in Map View and are not associated with any particular object.  We could have also created labels automatically for each object based on the contents of data fields, etc, etc.   Although the process is fast and easy, creating labels is not without its nuances.  

For example, although it is normally quite convenient for new labels to "inherit" the formatting used on a previous label, at times this can be a nuisance.  One reason we created the "TIGER/Line.." caption label right after the first "6" label was so that we could create it using the plain, default style. Had we inserted all six little round labels and then created the caption label, it would have been created using the same "circle" box.  That's a really ugly format to use for long text strings.  It also risks having the new label "clipped" in crowded maps because the circle must be drawn so big that it might overlap other labels. 

By default, the No Text Overlapping preference box is checked in the Tools - Options - General tab.   This means that any labels which overlap by the amount set forth in the preferences will be "clipped" or not displayed.    If we got done creating all the small circle labels and then clicked somewhere near the northern border of the U.S.A. to enter the "TIGER/Line..." main caption, we might have been surprised to see that the label we thought we just created is not visible.  It might have been "clipped" because to display it using a huge circular box would have overlapped the "6" or "3" labels previously created.  To resolve such situations, simply uncheck the No Text Overlapping box and all labels will become visible.  You can then move them about or change their formatting so they don't infringe on each other.]

Move Regions to Make an "Exploded" Style Map

It's time to pick out each region and move it slightly away from other regions.  Manifold has all sorts of handy editing capabilities.   However, keep in mind that these are designed to work with real data, not just "dead" bitmap images the way a photo editing package such as Microsoft Photo Editor is designed to manipulate.  The commands are therefore somewhat more sophisticated, because they are designed to be functional in more complex situations involving "live" map objects, map databases, and real coordinates.

  Step 1: Check to make sure that Network Edit mode is OFF - By default, Manifold is set up to treat systems of lines and points as networks.  This has a lot of implications for editing objects.  For example, one normally wishes links that are incident to a point (node) to be automatically "rubber banded" if that point is moved so that they stay connected.  Network Edit, when ON, will cause this rubber banding effect and will also turn off drag and drop movement of Areas.  We don't want that in this situation, because we are going to be grabbing and moving regions of the map.     So, we start by turning Network Edit mode OFF. We are now ready to start selecting regions and dragging them to where we want them to be.

Step 1: Select the states in region 6 - It's quick to select the West Coast states in region 6 by simply clicking on them using touch select, but this takes longer with regions that have more states.  Since we've placed the value "6" into the Disc field of each state record in region 6, we could also use the SQL toolbar with [Disc] = 6 and then hit Select.  All the states with "6" in their Disc field will be selected and displayed in the red Selection color. The thumbnail at right shows how the map looks with the region 6 states selected in red color.

[Editor's note: We can't resist pointing out a very helpful Manifold SQL toolbar feature.  Suppose we want all the states that do not have "6" in their Disc fields?  Simply click on the little Not button to the left of the equal sign in the toolbar.   The Not button negates whatever operator you pick in the center box of the SQL toolbar.  Hey, isn't that wonderful?  How on Earth can manifold.net sell this stuff for under $100?]

Step 2: Use Move command to move region 6 - Click on the Move button found in the Morph toolbar.  This turns on a box with edit "handles" about the objects that have been selected.   Drag the edit handles to a new location and close the Move dialog.  If you Cancel out of the Move dialog, the changes will not be made.  The thumbnail at right shows the process of dragging the edit box upwards and to the left.  Note that the "6" label does not move, because it is an unbound label that is not associated with any states.  It is simply floating at the position where it was created.  Once you get the map regions dragged to where you want them, it is a matter of moments to drag the region labels to whatever position you desire.

Step 3: Repeat process with other regions - For each region, click on Deselect All to clear the Selection from the previous region, and then apply SQL Toolbar using the number in Disc to select the states for the next region to be moved.  Click on Move and drag the states to the location desired.  Note that if you are using SQL Toolbar to select the regions, you can easily select the states for a particular region even if they are overlapped by other regions.  To create this particular map, we first dragged regions 6 and 1 out to the sides, and then tinkered with the positions of the central regions.  The thumbnail at right shows us in the process of moving region 2.   Note that the region labels have not yet been moved.

Step 4: Drag labels around as desired - OK, we moved the regions so we should also move the labels.  Unclick any command buttons (such as Move or selection buttons) and then drag each label to where you want it to be.

Step 5: Admire result, save workspace - Already, we have a very pretty map. The map as created is perfectly fine for many purposes.  Don't forget to save the workspace so you can see it again.  The techniques we've used can be used in combination with other Manifold techniques to create a very wide array of different styles of maps.  We haven't used any "heavy" analytics at all.  We've just used the formatting capabilites of Manifold to create a pretty map.  Well, perhaps we've used SQL Toolbar in a really elementary way, so the application of (ahem!) database logic is analysis, to be sure; however, we've not used any of the serious mathematical solvers within Manifold or any sort of advanced database capabilities.  You can click on the image at right to see a slightly larger version.

[Editor's Note: Even though we are using the Move operation to change the shape of objects to create a pretty picture, what is going on within Manifold is quite sophisticated.  Unlike a "drag and drop" operation in Microsoft Paint, we are dealing with genuine map objects here and not just dumb bitmaps.   The result of the Move operations is to literally move the geometry of the map objects.  If you measured the coordinates of, say, Oregon, in the resulting map, you'd see that it has been moved out into the latitude/longitude range of the Pacific Ocean.  We can apply these and other editing techniques to create new maps or to fix inaccurate maps for genuine cartographic and CAD planning purposes.]

Add "Drop Shadows" if Desired

The map we've created so far is just fine.  Those of us that tinker with graphics editing software such as Adobe PhotoShop or Microsoft's Image Editor or Photo Editor know there is no end of cool techniques that may be applied to enhance the visual presentation of data.  For example, the images in this web site were copied from Manifold, pasted into PhotoShop, and then Gaussian Blur was applied to create the drop shadows.

There's no GIS package (yet, ... we're working on it) that will provide as good an image manipulation environment as a first rate graphics editor such as PhotoShop.  However, with a little tinkering one can achieve cool effects to enhance the "look" of a map.  One such effect is the use of Clone Objects to create a simple "drop shadow" effect.  The resulting effect is a flat, one color "shadow" that is simpler than using a Gaussian blur.   However, it's easier to do and a lot cheaper than buying PhotoShop.

The plan is simple: For each area object in the map, we'll create a copy in a new layer and displace that copy slightly down and right.  We'll then color those copies black.

Step 1: Create a new layer - Using Insert - Blank Layer create a new layer called DropShad.  Drag the layer tab to the right so that it is below the US_Main layer tab.   Note that the DropShad tab is now white, indicating it is the active layer.  New objects are created by default in the active layer.

Step 2: Set the measurement units to kilometers - In the Tools - Options - General properties tab, set the Len: parameter under Measurements to kilometers.  By default, it is meters.  Of course, you could also use miles or versts or any other unit of measure, but in these examples we use kilometers.

Step 3: Select all the state areas - The quickest way to do this is to right click on the US_Main layer tab and to pick Replace Selection from the popup menu that results.  All the states will be selected and turn red.  Using the pop-up menu makes US_Main   the active layer so we will click on the DropShad layer to make it the active layer again.  We want the new, drop shadow objects created in the DropShad layer, not in the US_Main layer.

  Step 4: Launch Clone Selected Objects dialog - The Clone Selected Objects button opens up a dialog that allows you to make copies of selected objects, and to automatically position each copy a given distance in a given direction from the predecessor copy.  It is therefore perfect for drop shadow or similar effects.   [It can also be used to create a stack of circles within each other so as to automatically create a set of radii, but that's a different case study!].

Step 5: Fill in parameters in dialog - In this case, we want 2 steps (the original is considered the first step),   with the created objects at a final size of 100% (the same size as the original) and we want to move the created objects 75 km Down and Right from the original.  Hit OK to create copies of all the state areas in the DropShad layer, but displaced 75 km down and to the right.

[Editor's Note: Now you see why we changed measurement units.  If the default unit of meters was still in force, this dialog would have asked us for the Move step in meters.  We could have entered 75000, of course, but it is cooler to simply use kilometers.  Since Manifold is literally creating objects in a geographic map that spans the size of the United States, it wants to know displacement in real units!  Perhaps this is a bit goofy when we are using Manifold as an image editor to format a pretty map, but it is an essential requirement and not so funny when we are using the Clone command to create nested radius rings for some serious proximity analysis.]

Step 6: Color the DropShad layer black -  This is a snap.  Click on the DropShad layer tab to make sure it is active, and then click on the color well in the formatting toolbar and make it black.   The newly created objects should have been selected, so that the formatting toolbar setup (shown above) we did long ago at the beginning of this case study to format only selected objects should still be in force.    You can always make the drop shadow objects the selected objects by Right-clicking on the DropShad layer tab and choosing Replace Selection from the pop-up menu.  That will make the screen look like the upper thumbnail at right.

Step 7: Admire final result and save workspace -   Well, that was certainly a lot of reading, wasn't it?  The amazing thing is that someone reasonably experienced with Manifold can repeat this example in about 5 minutes.  It is much faster to do than to read about.  The result is admirable, though, and used a number of cool features not found in some GIS packages that sell for over $1000.  We think the resulting map is first rate. Click on the image at right to get an extra large version of the same image.

Step 8: Printing the Result - Manifold's printing system used in Release 4 is oriented towards more  technical applications and is not particularly well suited to print "WYSIWIG" displays of screen images.  The easiest way of printing the map we've created is to use the Print Scrn key on your keyboard to copy the screen image at the desired zoom level to the Windows clipboard.  Then, launch Microsoft Paint (free with Windows) or your favorite graphics editor and Paste the clipboard into a new document.   You can then print the bitmap exactly as you see it on screen, because you have now converted a complex map consisting of true geometric objects into a simple bitmap.

Notes and Variations

About the only "trick" we used was the application of Clone to make "drop shadows".  This technique is highly dependent upon the zoom scale used.  For example, you can use Zoom Box to zoom into a small area of the map created, say, around Cape Cod.   When greatly zoomed in so that the Map View is only 150 km across, using a drop shadow that is offset by 75 km is somewhat ridiculous.  For greater zooms, one must use a smaller offset for the "drop shadow."

You can always move the objects in DropShad that constitute the "shadow" by Right-clicking on the DropShad tab, and choosing Replace Selection from the pop-up menu.  Now that they are the Selection, you can click on the same Move button in the Morph toolbar you used to move the regions away from one another to make an "exploded" map.  However, now you can move all of the drop shadow objects together to bring them closer to the map objects they are "shadowing."

Clone Selected Objects can also be used to create different effects.  For example, by using a Steps of 2, a Final Size of 110%, and a Move Steps of 0 km can be used to create a "halo" around the object.

Other variations include the addition of labels using Format Fields to create a label for all or some states.  We created the map at right to label the states of CD 5 with the state abbreviation.  The labels use a Shaded style, where the background color for the font (used for shaded effect) is the same color as that used for the areas but slightly darker. Being the home of manifold.net, Nevada uses a larger font size.  We also added a scalebar set to read 1000 kilometers for good effect. 

Like what you see? Now is the time to buy Manifold System and get all these capabilities for yourself.  It's only $145 and it totally outperforms ancient systems from an earlier era.  You get more power, better ease of use and a spectacularly driven engineering organization working to serve you better.  While you are at it, why not order a copy of TIGER/Line 1997 as well? Visit the Manifold.net Online Store for a quick, easy, and secure purchase of Manifold products, or (in the US) call 800-556-5919 to order by telephone (9-5 PST).

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