See Screen Shots of this product at the Business Tools Solver Package page.

Easy to Use "Fuzzy Logic" Searching Arrives in GIS


19 August 1999 - Carson City: Manifold Net has commenced shipments of Manifold Business Tools with Decision Support System, the first GIS product to provide sophisticated "fuzzy logic" searches that are perfectly integrated with high end GIS. A GIS (Geographic Information System) provides mapping capability that integrates database information with the visual display of a map. Manifold's new Business Tools solver package is an enhancement product for Manifold System Release 4.50, a high-end GIS that runs in Windows operating systems. The new product sells for only $75, yet it provides more sophisticated capability than "fuzzy logic" systems that sell for thousands of dollars in database markets.

"The new Decision Support System is the first time anyone has delivered 'Fuzzy Logic' searching and selection in an easy to use, cost effective way. Such things have never before been available in GIS and have only emerged in recent years for upscale databases. Our innovation has been first, to make this technology available within GIS and second, to package it in a way that anyone can use," said Dimitri Rotow, a marketing spokesman for Manifold Net. "We are very proud of the sophistication and ease of use of this package."

Background

All high-end GIS programs provide some means of visualizing the data attributes "behind" the map. Most high-end GIS programs also provide some means, such as SQL, to query the database information associated with the map. The problem with traditional approaches is that SQL and other query languages force users to employ inflexible search criteria even in searches where flexible criteria or tradeoffs between criteria must be made. Almost all GIS business searches are best accomplished with flexible criteria, yet old-fashioned GIS systems such as ArcView(r) and MapInfo(r) cannot handle this requirement. In contrast, a "fuzzy logic" approach allows use of flexible selection criteria in addition to traditional SQL.

To take an example, suppose we would like to find "good" students in a school database based on grade point average and good attendance. In a system like SQL, we might search for students, for example, who have a GPA of 3.500 and above and who also have fewer than four days' tardiness. Such a query would miss students who have a 3.49 GPA and zero days' tardiness and it would also miss students who have a 4.00 GPA but five days' tardiness even though these students would be considered "good" students by most people.

A Flexible Logic Solution

Manifold's Decision Support System allows the use of "profiles" that specify the characteristics being sought in a flexible way. For example, a query to find a "good" student might seek students with "high" grades and "good" attendence profiles. A "high" grade profile might specify that a 4.00 GPA is best, and that everthing above a 3.500 is highly desired, with GPA's below 3.50 tailing off (but not abruptly) in desirability. Such flexible profiles reflect real-life desires, where people make tradeoffs in multiple criteria searches. When used in a Decision Support Query, they will automatically find "good" students using the mathematics of "fuzzy" logic in a way that old-fashioned, rigid queries cannot.

Previous fuzzy logic systems that have been created for high end databases have been difficult to use and configure. That has made them expensive to deploy and utilize. A Manifold innovation is to make it really easy to specify profiles and to build queries. 

In Manifold's Decision Support System, profiles are made easy through "presets", confidence brackets and flexibility. Queries are made easy through drag and drop query-building and the use of "hedges". While "fuzzy" logic systems found in advanced database applications often use the dry and impenetrable language of abstract set theory, Manifold's Decision Support System uses the ordinary language of business with words like "profile" and "hedge." This makes it easy for business users to understand and deploy.

Presets Make it Easy

Presets are pre-arranged profiles with names like "High", "Average", "Low" and so on. When choosing a desirability profile for any criterion, clicking on one of the standard presets will cause the Decision Support System to analyze the database and build a sensible profile based on a mathematical examination of the data. All this happens behind the scenes to make life easier for the user. This preset profile may then be adjusted by pointing and clicking with the mouse as desired if the default preset does not exactly capture the wishes of the user.

Some users prefer to express their preferences using confidence intervals. For example, when searching for a house in a particular price bracket, a user might say "I'm 90% sure that $600,000 is too much." Manifold's Decision Support System will calculate a profile based on such simple expressions. If desired, users can simply click and drag with their mouse to create a custom search profile.

Queries are built by dragging and dropping profiles into a query box. Users are automatically prompted for the relationship of the new profile to previous ones in the query using words like AND, OR and so on. By default, the query is built using "is" as the relationship between a data attribute and a profile. So, a user might drag and drop the phrase "Grade Point Average is High" into the query box. If desired, users can "hedge" the query by clicking into the "is" box and choosing a hedge such as "is extremely". For example, to find the very best students we might change the query so it reads "Grade Point Average is extremely High." Using a hedge like "is extremely" or "is somewhat" will automatically nudge the query in the desired direction to capture the user's wishes.

Other Solvers in the Business Tools Package

In addition to the Decision Support System, the new Manifold Business Tools package includes several other advanced solvers for Manifold System business users. Business Tools solvers use step-by-step Windows wizards and simple Windows dialogs to make it easy for anyone to take advantage of sophisticated GIS functions:

Send Email - A Windows-driven dialog that sends email based on mapping for geotargeted emailings. Automatically send email to all insurance agents in a coastal buffer zone, for example.

Territory Balancing - The most sophisticated and easiest-to-use Territory Balancing capability in GIS.

Drive Time Analysis - Automatically find and create drive-time polygons over road networks. Find the zones reachable by number of hops, by cost, and other analyses. For sophisticated drive time analytics, users can enter formulas involving several fields into the speed and distance boxes.

Optimal Route - This solver finds an optimal route through a road network to visit a given set of locations, beginning at a start point and ending at a finish point. Points may be selected interactively by pointing and clicking on a preview map. If desired, ActiveX/Visual Basic formulas may be entered into the input boxes and used to compute "on the fly" weightings for sophisticated routing needs.

Closest Facilities - Finds closest facilities to a target point: great for siting analysis, facilities organization, and specialty uses such as antenna locating.

Business Tools with Decision Support System is shipping today from the online store at www.manifold.net   It requires Manifold System Release 4.50 GIS and runs on Windows '95, '98, NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. Price for Business Tools is $75. The price for Manifold System GIS required by Business Tools is $145. Purchasers may immediately download and run the package for instant gratification, a great benefit for international buyers.

About manifold.net

Manifold Net is a privately held company that creates cool data visualization and manipulation software. It is best known for Manifold System, one of the most sophisticated GIS software packages ever developed. It is unique in providing spatial, networking, geometric, database, and statistical GIS capabilities for only $145. Despite the low price, it usually outperforms in capacity, speed, and sophistication packages that sell for thousands of dollars. Manifold can do so because it was created using the software tools of the late '90s and it leverages the new generation of desktop systems. 

Contact: Dimitri Rotow, 800-556-5919 / dar@manifold.net 

See Screen Shots of this product at the Business Tools Solver Package page.

Manifold Net Ltd.
1805 North Carson Street
Suite 700
Carson City, NV 89701

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