Release 8 Formats
All the Formats You Need
Manifold System Release 8 Formats
Manifold System Release 8.00 works with over 100 different vector, raster, terrain and database formats. Many of the formats listed below exist in significantly different subtypes and so constitute more than one format. Manifold will automatically detect such subtypes and use the correct importer. Some "raster" formats can be used for terrain elevation data while some surface formats can be used for images. Some "drawing" formats such as SDTS can contain other types of data such as surfaces. Manifold will work with such variations to import the data correctly.
Although all editions can read .e00 format, Universal Edition or higher is required to write to .e00. Universal Edition or above is required for direct connections to IBM DB2 with DB2 Spatial Extender, Microsoft SQL Server Spatial, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with Spatial Extender, Oracle or PostgreSQL/PostGIS when using the native spatial data types of those spatial DBMS products.
For information on direct links and connectivity to spatial DBMS products, see the Spatial DBMS topic in the online edition of the user manual.
For notes on ESRI geodatabases, see the ESRI Geodatabases topic in the online edition of the user manual.
Import
Formats used for images and for surfaces have some overlap, as depending on the particular format an image can be stored in what is normally thought of as a "surface" format and vice versa.
Raster Image Formats
ADRG | NIMA ARC Digitized Raster Graphics |
AVHRR | Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Level 1 B, .l1b |
ADF | ESRI .adf format, also sometimes called ArcGrid format. Note that .adf files can contain either raster or vector data. |
BMP | Windows bitmap, .bmp |
CADRG | NIMA Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics |
CIB | NIMA Controlled Image Base |
CSV | Images as virtual tables in comma-separated or other text file tables. |
DB | Images as virtual tables in Borland Paradox files |
DBF | Images as virtual tables in dBase, FoxPro files |
DNG | An Adobe variation of TIFF used in digital photography. |
DOQ | USGS Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle, .doq, .coq, .jpg |
DRG | USGS Digital Raster graphics (scanned maps) in .tif format (used for DRG';s by USGS). |
DSN | Images as virtual tables in Microsoft Data Source files, .dsn |
E00 | ESRI .e00 files containing rasters. |
ECW / JPEG2000 | ERMapper .ecw Wavelet compressed or JPEG2000 compressed format. Any size ECW or JPEG2000 image may be imported. |
EMF, WMF | Windows Meta File and Extended Meta File, .emf, .wmf |
ENVI IMG | ENVI .img format image files. |
ERDAS GIS | ERDAS files in .gis, .lan formats. |
ERDAS IMG | ERDAS .img format image files. |
ERS | ERMapper .ers files. |
GIF | A well-known image format, .gif |
GeoSPOT | GeoSpot satellite multispectral rasters |
GRASS | US Army Corps of Engineers raster-based package. |
GXF | Geosoft .gxf, an ASCII grid format mainly used for terrain elevation data. |
HTML | Images as virtual tables in HTML files. |
HDR | GeoSPOT satellite files, .hdr |
HDF | SeaWiFS, EOS, NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) Hierarchical Data Format (HDF). Used mostly for images. Used widely in Earth Observation Satellite (EOS) projects. |
IDRISI IMG | IDRISI .img format. |
IMDISP | US AVHRR / Conterminus US Land Cover, .lbl |
JPEG | A well-known image format, .jpg, .jpeg. |
LAS/LBL | Log ASCII Standard (LAS) format used for well logging data. An ASCII format originally developed by the Canadian Well Logging society in the late 1980's and now used by USGS and others, .ddr |
MDB | Images as virtual tables in Microsoft Access 2000 or Access 97 .mdb format |
NITF | NIMA .ntf image format (different than UK Ordance Survey .ntf) |
PCX | PC Paintbrush format by ZSoft, .pcx |
PIX | PCIDISK, Silicon Graphics Alias / Wavefront .pix format |
PNG | Portable Network Graphics (pronounced "Ping"), .png - Just say no to .gif! |
PPM | Portable PixMap (PPM) format. Intended as a "lowest common denominator" color image file format. Used in UNIX systems, .ppm |
RAW | Raw text and raw binary files, .raw |
IDRISI32 RST | IDRISI .rst format files |
SGI | Silicon Graphics .sgi format files |
SID | "MrSID" images using LizardTech proprietary format. Requires prior installation of any one of several free import utilities. .sid |
SPOT | SPOT satellite .dat format files |
SRTM | Shuttle SRTM data in .hgt, .inc,.mag, .pol and .err files. |
SUN | Sun Microsystems .sun files |
TAB | MapInfo TAB grid files, .tab |
TGA | Targa .tga files |
TIF | Regular .tif, .tif with .tfw "world files", etc. |
TIFF .tif (geocoded) | GeoTIFF, regular .tif, .tif with .tfw "world files", etc. |
UDL | Images as virtual tables in a Microsoft Universal Data Link connection, .udl |
WKx | Images as virtual tables in Lotus files, .wj, .wk |
WMF | Windows Meta File (see EMF), .wmf |
WMS | Links to images served by OGC WMS servers. |
XLS | Images as virtual tables in Microsoft Excel files, .xls |
XLSX | Images as virtual tables in Microsoft XLSX files (Microsoft Office 2007 and later), .xlsx |
XYZ | Generic XYZ |
ADO.NET | Images as virtual tables via generic ADO.NET data sources |
ADO.NET ODBC | Images as virtual tables via ODBC through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET OLE DB | Images as virtual tables via OLE DB through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET Oracle | Images as virtual tables via ADO.NET built in connection to Oracle. |
ADO.NET SQL Server | Images as virtual tables via ADO.NET built in connection to SQL Server |
Oracle Data Sources | Oracle Call Interface (OCI) for direct connect to Oracle tables or Oracle Spatial storage using GeoRasters. Requires Universal Edition or above. |
ODBC | Images as virtual tables via any ODBC driver. |
OLE DB | Images as virtual tables via any OLE DB Provider. |
Vector Drawing Formats
ADF | ESRI .adf format, also sometimes called ArcGrid format. Note that .adf files can contain either raster or vector data. |
BNA .bna | Atlas |
CSV .csv, .asc, etc. | Comma-separated tables containing vector information |
DB .db | Database files containing vector information |
DBF .dbf | Database files containing vector information |
DGN .dgn | Intergraph |
DSN .dsn | Microsoft data source files providing connections to data sources containing vector information |
DLG .dlg, .opt | USGS Digital Line Graph Optional |
DWG .dwg | AutoCAD versions 13, 14, and 15 |
DXF .dxf | AutoCAD versions 13, 14, and 15 |
EOO .e00 | ESRI ArcINFO "export" format. All editions can read .e00. Writing .e00 requires Universal Edition or above. |
ESRI Geodatabase | ESRI "geodatabase" format using .mdb |
GDF .gdf | European common format |
Geocoding Database | Manifold Geocoding Database files for import of roads, hydrography, etc. Requires Geocoding Tools extension. |
GML .gml | Ordnance Survey (UK) version of GML used in MasterMap. GML may well be the utterly stupidest format ever created by a committee of bureaucrats. |
HTML | Database files containing vector information |
IDRISI VCT | Idrisi vector format files |
KML/KMZ | Google Earth "Keyhole" KML and KMZ |
LULC | GIRAS |
MAP | Manifold 5.00 or 5.50 .map project files |
ETAK MapAccess | Proprietary ETAK format (Acquired by TeleAtlas) |
ETAK MBS .mbs, .xbs | ETAK MapBase (Acquired by TeleAtlas) |
MDB | Microsoft Access MDB database files containing vector information |
MFD .mfd | Manifold 4.50 |
MIF .mif | MapInfo mid/mif |
MWS | Manifold 4.50 workspace files |
NTAD .are, .lnk, .nod, .pnt | BTS National Transportation Atlas Database |
NTF .ntf | UK Ordnance Survey including several NTF subformats. |
S57 | Vector format popular for marine navigation, a "bare bones" importer aimed at grabbing core vector information. |
STDS | US government Spatial Data Transfer Standard |
SHP .shp | ESRI ArcView, including 3D and measured Shapefiles |
TAB .tab | MapInfo Tab, including shapefiles referenced by a TAB file. |
TAIF .nde, .edg, .fac | Tele Atlas Interchange Format, Street Net, Multi Net |
TIGER/Line | US Bureau of the Census TIGER (TL '95, '97, '98, '99, '00 and '00 Redist, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2006SE) |
UDL | Microsoft Universal Data Link files providing connections to data sources containing vector information |
VCT .vct | IDRISI |
VMAP .dht | NIMA Vector Product Format: VMAP0, VMAP1 and VMAP2 (.vpf) |
WKx .wj, .wk | Lotus database files containing vector information |
XLS .xls | Microsoft Excel database files containing vector information |
XLSX .xlsx | Vector information in Microsoft XLSX files (Microsoft Office 2007 and later), .xlsx |
ADO.NET | Generic ADO.NET data source containing vector information |
ADO.NET ODBC | ODBC through ADO.NET containing vector information |
ADO.NET OLE DB | OLE DB through ADO.NET containing vector information |
ADO.NET Oracle | ADO.NET built in connection to Oracle containing vector information |
ADO.NET SQL Server | ADO.NET built in connection to SQL Server containing vector information |
ODBC | Any ODBC driver providing connections to data sources containing vector information |
Oracle Data Sources | Oracle Call Interface (OCI) for direct connect to Oracle tables or Oracle Spatial storage using SDO_GEOMETRY. Requires Universal Edition or above. |
OLE DB | Any OLE DB Provider providing connections to data sources containing vector information |
Surface Formats
ADF | ESRI .adf format, also sometimes called ArcGrid format. Note that .adf files can contain either raster or vector data. |
AVHRR .l1b | Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Level 1 B |
BIL .bil, .hdr | ESRI BIL surfaces/terrain elevation |
CEOS .vdf | SeaWiFS Satellite |
CSV | Surfaces as virtual tables in comma-separated or other text file tables. |
DAT .dat | SPOT files |
DB | Surfaces as virtual tables in Borland Paradox files |
DBF | Surfaces as virtual tables in dBase, FoxPro files |
DDR .ddr | LAS files |
DEM | USGS Digital Elevation Module |
DEM STDS | USGS DEM using Spatial Data Transfer Standard |
DEM ArcInfo .dem, .hdr | ESRI ArcINFO |
DEM GLOBE | Global Land One-kilometer Base Elevation |
DEM GTOPO30 | Global 30 Arc Second Elevation Data Format |
DSN .dsn | Surfaces as virtual tables in Microsoft Data Source files |
DTED | Digital Terrain Elevation Data (US Military / NIMA), DTED Level 0, Level 1, Level 2 |
E00 .e00 | ESRI .e00 Grid files |
ENVI IMG .img | ENVI IMG |
ERDAS GIS .gis,.lan | ERDAS |
ERDAS IMG .img | ERDAS |
ERS .ers | ERMapper |
ESRI ASCII Grid GRD .grd | ESRI ArcINFO ASCII Grid |
ESRI Fload Grid FLT .flt | ESRI ArcINFO Floating-Point Grid |
GeoSPOT .hdr | GeoSPOT satellite |
GRC .grc,.grd | Northwood GRC/GRD Grid Files |
GRASS | US Army Corps of Engineers |
GXF .gxf | Grid Exchange File |
HDF .hdf | EOS |
HDF .hdf | SeaWiFS |
HDR .hdr,.img | ENVI IMG |
HDR .hdr | GeoSPOT |
HTML .htm, .html | Surfaces as virtual tables in HTML files. |
IMG .img | IMDISP |
IMG .img | IDRISI IMG |
GRC .grc | Northwood Grid Files |
LULC CTG .ctg | Land Use and Land Cover |
MDB | Microsoft Access MDB database files containing vector information |
NTF .ntf | NTF Grid |
PIX .pix | PCIDISK, Silicon Graphics Alias / Wavefront .pix format |
RAW ASCII | Flexible format raw ASCII |
RAW Binary | Flexible format raw Binary |
SDTS | Surfaces in Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) format. |
SRTM | Space Shuttle terrain elevation data in either 30 meter or 90 meter resolution. |
Surfer GRD | Surfer 6, 7 or ASCII GRD files, automatically recognizing the correct Surfer format. |
TAB .tab | MapInfo TAB grid files |
TIF .tif | Geocoded TIFF, generic TIF as surfaces |
UDL .udl | Surfaces as virtual tables in a Microsoft Universal Data Link connection. |
VDF .vdf | CEOS SeaWiFS |
WKx .wj, .wk | Surfaces as virtual tables in Lotus files. |
XLS .xls | Surfaces as virtual tables in Microsoft Excel files. |
XLSX .xlsx | Surfaces as virtual tables in Microsoft XLSX files (Microsoft Office 2007 and later), .xlsx |
XYZ .xyz | Generic XYZ |
ADO.NET | Surfaces as virtual tables via generic ADO.NET data source. |
ADO.NET ODBC | Surfaces as virtual tables via ODBC through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET OLE DB | Surfaces as virtual tables via OLE DB through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET Oracle | Surfaces as virtual tables via ADO.NET built in connection to Oracle. |
ADO.NET SQL Server | Surfaces as virtual tables via ADO.NET built in connection to SQL Server |
ODBC | Surfaces as virtual tables via any ODBC driver. |
OLE DB | Surfaces as virtual tables via any OLE DB Provider. |
Database Formats
CSV .asc, .csv, .tab, .txt, etc... | Text formats |
DB .db | Borland Paradox |
DBF .dbf | dBase, FoxPro |
DSN .dsn | Microsoft Data Source files |
HTML .htm, .html | Tables in HTML pages |
MDB .mdb | Microsoft Access 2000 and Access 97 .mdb format |
UDL .udl | Microsoft Universal Data Link |
WKx .wj, .wk | Lotus |
XLS .xls | Microsoft Excel |
XLSX .xlsx | Microsoft XLSX files (Microsoft Office 2007 and later), .xlsx |
ADO.NET | Generic ADO.NET data source. |
ADO.NET ODBC | ODBC through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET OLE DB | OLE DB through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET Oracle | ADO.NET built in connection to Oracle. |
ADO.NET SQL Server | ADO.NET built in connection to SQL Server |
ODBC | Any ODBC driver. |
Oracle Data Sources | Oracle Call Interface (OCI) for direct connect to Oracle tables or Oracle Spatial storage using GeoRasters Requires Universal Edition or above. |
OLE DB | Any OLE DB Provider. |
Default OLE DB Providers
Microsoft Jet 3.51 OLE DB Provider (Access 97) | |
Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider (Access 2000+) | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Indexing Service | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Internet Publishing | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for OLAP Services | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server | |
Microsoft OLE DB Simple Provider | |
MSDataShape | |
Native SQL Client | |
OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Directory Services |
Export
Some data may be exported in multiple forms, for example, as an image or as a surface. Although graphics arts formats like .ai or .pdf may be thought of as "vector" formats, they can contain rasters and are listed here as printing formats.
Printing Formats
AI | Adobe Illustrator |
EMF | Windows Extended Meta File format |
Portable Document Format | |
PS | PostScript |
Raster Image Formats
BMP .bmp | Windows bitmap |
ECW .ecw | ERMapper Wavelet compressed. |
EMF .emf, .wmf | Windows Meta File and Extended Meta File |
GIF .gif | |
JPEG .jpg, .jpeg | |
KML / KMZ | Google Earth KML / KMZ. |
PNG .png | Portable Network Graphics ("Ping") - Just say no to .gif! |
TGA .tga | Targa |
TIF .tif | |
TIFF .tif (geocoded) | GeoTIFF, regular .tif, .tif with .tfw "world files", etc. |
WMS | Serve images using Manifold's built-in WMS Server capability. |
Vector Drawing Formats
DXF .dxf | AutoCAD |
E00 .e00 | ESRI ArcInfo "export" format. All editions can read .e00. Writing .e00 requires Manifold System Universal Edition or above. |
KML / KMZ | Google Earth KML / KMZ. |
MFD .mfd | Manifold 4.50 |
MIF .mif | MapInfo mid/mif |
SDTS | US Federal Government Spatial Data Transfer Standard |
SHP .shp | ESRI ArcView, including 3D and measured Shapefiles |
Surface Formats
ESRI BIL .bil, .hdr | ESRI BIL surfaces/terrain elevation |
ESRI E00 | Surfaces in ESRI .e00 format. All editions can read .e00. Writing .e00 requires Manifold System Universal Edition or above. |
ESRI ASCII Grid GRD .grd | ESRI ArcINFO ASCII Grid |
ESRI Fload Grid FLT .flt | ESRI ArcINFO Floating-Point Grid |
SDTS | Surfaces in SDTS format. |
Surfer 6 GRD | Surfer version 6 GRD format |
Surfer 7 GRD | Surfer version 7 GRD format |
Surfer ASCII GRD | Surfer ASCII GRD format |
Database Formats
Manifold ODBC Driver | Read data from Manifold .map project files directly into ODBC capable third party applications using the ODBC driver for Manifold .map project files. |
CSV .asc, .csv, .tab, .txt, etc... | Text formats |
DB .db | Borland Paradox |
DBF .dbf | dBase, FoxPro |
HTML .htm, .html | Tables in HTML pages |
MDB .mdb | Microsoft Access 2000 and Access 97 .mdb format |
WKx .wj, .wk | Lotus |
XLS .xls | Microsoft Excel |
XLSX .xlsx | Microsoft XLSX files (Microsoft Office 2007 and later), .xlsx |
ADO.NET | Generic ADO.NET data source. |
ADO.NET ODBC | ODBC through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET OLE DB | OLE DB through ADO.NET |
ADO.NET Oracle | ADO.NET built in connection to Oracle. |
ADO.NET SQL Server | ADO.NET built in connection to SQL Server |
ODBC | Any ODBC driver. |
OLE DB | Any OLE DB Provider. |
Oracle OCI | Oracle Call Interface native connection for Oracle Spatial, SDO_GEOMETRY and GeoRasters. Requires Universal Edition or above. |
Default OLE DB Providers (typical Windows installation)
Microsoft Jet 3.51 OLE DB Provider (Access 97) | |
Microsoft Jet 4.0 OLE DB Provider (Access 2000+) | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Indexing Service | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Internet Publishing | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for OLAP Services | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle | |
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server | |
Microsoft OLE DB Simple Provider | |
MSDataShape | |
Native SQL Client | |
OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Directory Services |
Image Servers usable by Manifold
Use of image servers requires image server modules that may be provided by third parties and can be downloaded for free from the web. The following are typical examples of image server modules that are widely used within the Manifold user community.
Google Earth | Satellite images |
Google Maps | Street map images |
Manifold Image Server | Generic, open source connection to any image server |
Manifold IMS Image Server | Manifold IMS web sites running as image servers |
Microsoft Virtual Earth | Virtual Earth satellite images and street maps |
OGC WMS | Open GIS Consortium "WMS" standard for image servers |
TerraServer | Very cool high resolution image server |
Yahoo! Maps | Street map images |
Manifold Internet Map Server DefaultS
HTML/ ASP/ASP.NET | General purpose Internet Map Server |
Admin | Administrator control interface web site |
Manifold Image Server | General purpose image server, like your own image content served like Google Earth. |
OGC WMS | Images served using OGC WMS image server protocols |
OGC WFS-T | OGC WFS-T Feature Server, includes transactions so that clients can have a read/write interface with the server to edit vector data on the server from the client. |
OGC WMS | Open GIS Consortium "WMS" standard for image servers |
SVG | Requires programming. See the Free Stuff page example. |
Tables | Serve tables. Cool! |
Terrains | Display 3D views of surfaces. Requires programming. See the Free Stuff page example. |
Profiles | Display "cuts" through surfaces. Requires Surface Tools and programming. See the Free Stuff page example. |
Format availability is subject to change without notice.
Suggestions for New Formats
Suggestions to improve Manifold are always welcome. If you would like to suggest a new format, please see the Suggestions page for tips on making effective suggestions.
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