OK - I received not a few, but a lot of emails in response to a post about a week ago regarding municipal use of Manifold, as well as the Manifold IMS. After sifting through them (I'm flattered that there are that many who actually want to hear what I have to say, I might get a swelled head) basically two questions came across. The first was "why am I using Manifold for the majority (~90%) of the GIS work I do when I have access to the popular?" The second question was basically, "you're using a customized MapGuide IMS at work . how do you rate the Manifold IMS to this?"

Here's my 2 cents worth. If there are any other questions, or anything that is unclear, of course feel free to email me. This isn't intended to be a product comparison, although this might happen as I point out what I do use Manifold for and why it is my weapon of choice.

Some house keeping. First, where am I and what do I have. I currently work for the City of --------- (Canada) as one of two GIS technicians. In my inventory of GIS software, I have access to AutoCAD Map 5, ESRI ArcView 3.2a and ESRI ArcInfo 8.1. We have some minor extensions for the ESRI stuff (XTools etc.), but not major ones. Now, what do I do. I work between the departments of infrastructure and corporate services (Information systems), which means I constantly receive things in both dwg, shp and coverage format. I won't bore you with "my major duties are.". Instead, I'll just point out some of the main things that I use Manifold for, and hopefully these will answer most of the questions I got. These "duties" include management of the city's parcel fabric (~31000 parcels), manipulation/administration/standardization of various databases, assistance with the management of our Oracle infrastructure (MIDS model) data and drawings as well as the maintenance management, and creation and administration of our web GIS initiative. These, like I said, are some of the major things that I do - I should also note that I am not a programmer, although I have been know to do some scripting and VB database front ends; therefore I will not comment on any scripting etc. explicitly.

Why Manifold? The quick and easy answer is that it serves most of my needs in one package and is easy to use. Have graphics for our parcel fabric, and very often, we get new subdivision drawings in that are not tied to any "real" coordinates. Also, these parcels are often just collections of lines, since they were (usually) gathered using TSS. There is also never any real data attached to them. We keep all of the actual parcel data in a separate external database for easy retrieval, and so that it may be tied into other systems so we keep one master address list (more or less). With Manifold, I can usually just open the dwg file without a problem and get the parcel layer I need. On the rare occasion that it does not come in right, I open it in ACAD Map and do a shp file conversion and bring it into Manifold that way. The drawing is then rubber sheeted to where ever it is supposed to go. I find Manifold to be very good at this and the process to be very simple. AutoCAD could do it, but I find its rubber sheeting methods to be often less accurate (I'm assuming there are different algorithms at work here) and difficult, since you are supposed to click where a node is, and then where it is supposed to go. This is hard when, technically, my subdivision is showing in the Gulf of Mexico, and my parcels are in -------. ArcInfo 8.1 is the same way. 

I could set up view windows etc., but the side by side method of Manifold seems to be the easiest. ArcView 3.2 can't do it worth beans. As mentioned, usually the subdivision is just lines - this means the areas (or polygons) need to be created, as well as an actual centroid point for other uses. Manifold makes this very easy, since the topology is generated on the fly, I can 9 times out of ten, just "Create Bounded Areas" and get my areas. AutoCAD's topology and cleanup tools are scary to say the least - I think I liked ArcInfo 7's better. ArcInfo 8 is ok, but creating areas is a pain. ArcView can't do it without the XTools plug in, and its not very accurate for this, since the topology isn't maintained / enforced as well as in Manifold. The next step is to move the new parcels from the one drawing and into the actual parcel fabric drawing - in Manifold, its an easy copy/paste. ArcView - sucks at moving stuff from one layer to another. CAD isn't much better do to the over complexity. ArcInfo 8.1 is ok though, again more complex then it needs to be. Generating actual points for the centroid is also something that is easy in Manifold. Can't do it in ArcView (probably can with an extension), AutoCAD is to complex (again) and you can probably do it fine in ArcInfo, but I don't have to time to try, since Manifold is so fast / easy at it. As mentioned, our data are in external databases - Manifold's ability to link these in and relate them I find to be excellent. AutoCAD's data handling is terrible for external stuff (brings back nightmares) and ArcView is needlessly complex -needing the ODBC extension to bring it in, and then the join etc. ArcInfo's is OK though. It is this sort of "easy" relation that I like, and allows me to find errors in the infrastructure models very quickly just by joining the external database in and looking for the matches.

Speaking of databases - I've harped on this a couple of times, but it makes for a good segue. I think you'll be hard pressed to find another program with database tools like these. Again - I wont touch ACAD - suffice it to say their data handling sucks. ESRI won't let you actually DO anything with the structure etc., like change a field type on the fly. Tools like append and delete right have become some of my greatest friends. It's tools like these that allow me to standardize my data sets quickly. Also, the intrinsic fields, which no other GIS lets you actually play with are great. I was asked once for a list of the coordinates of some properties. With ESRI or Cad, you'd have to either get them one by one, or do a selection / list. Manifold - I just print out the table. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that ESRI and AutoDesk can't hold a flame to Manifold in the database handling department - and this is what make my database work and maintenance management work much easier.

Also, in the last little while, interest has been expressed regarding a DEM that we received for our area. Unfortunately, since we don't have any of the 3D extensions, Manifold is the only program that can read it. I have picked up MicroDEM as well though.

Ok - I think I've rambled enough here. I hope that I was able to answer some questions - let me know (not all at once!) if there are others. Hope this helps someone. Again, just my 2 cents worth.

As a side note - when I started, I had my personal license of Manifold. Then they went and bought me another license, so I didn't have to use mine all the time. Now, the city has purchased 2 more licenses (I'll be doing training this week), and a fourth might be on the way. Plus, one of my former GIS professors has purchased a copy because he was impressed by what I showed him! Looks like Manifold is making some inroads.