Manifold System Release 6.50 Highlights 

This page has been provided for Manifold System 6.00 users as a quick summary of major improvements delivered in Manifold System Release 6.50. Based on thousands of comments from 6.00 users, Release 6.50 development emphasized several main areas:

• CAD and COGO editing tools in Drawings.
• Performance increases in rendering.
• Enhanced labels.
• Enhanced layouts, including templates.
• Enhanced legends.
• Hydrology (watershed, etc.) functions in Surface Tools.
• Numerous user wishlist items, such as NADCON and NTv2 support.

6.50 Highlights

To achieve the above objectives hundreds of upgrades are listed in the release notes together with bug fixes or other improvements that adjusted existing functions. Following is a sample list of improvements from 6.00 SP1 to 6.50 

Drawings  

• Faster rendering - numerous new facilities provide faster rendering, especially of larger drawings.  Speed increases in different areas range from a factor of 5 to a factor of 20 or more times faster.  Many speed increases are especially effective with larger drawings and help increase by a factor of 3 to 5 the maximum size of drawings that may be edited at any given user tolerance level for the balance between editing very large drawings and slower operations.
• Faster transforms - Many key transform operators have increased in speed, with a resultant speed increase in all operations that use them.  Normalize topology, for example, in certain cases has become over 100 times faster.
• Area borders - Area borders may not be independently formatted with independent (or thematic) setting of area border foreground color, area border background color, area border line style and area border line size.
• Custom line styles - Manifold now allows specification of custom line styles that are automatically fully scalable.
• CAD editing tools - New tools allow CAD style editing with operations such as Extend and Split available in a new Edit Toolbar that appears whenever a drawing object is selected for editing.  Over 50 common editing scenarios were examined in detail to provide a set of tools with great flexibility that have good workflow and are easy to learn and to use.
• Dialog Mode coordinate entry - Users may switch between mouse-based, visual operations and dialogs in a wide range of activities, such as editing, painting and selection by pressing the Insert key.  This allows mixed-mode operations such as inserting a new line beginning by making clicks with a mouse, switching to entry of the next coordinates for a line based upon range and bearing numbers, switching back to mouse entry and so on.  Dialog mode allows the precision of specific number specification of position (coordinates) as well as the interactive, more casual convenience of using the mouse.
• Better snaps - Snap modes have been expanded to allow snaps to segments within coordinate locations in lines and areas, snaps to grids and graticules, snap restrictions in layers in maps so that some layers do not guide snaps while others do and specification of a snap tolerance value.  Snap tolerance allows users to move the mouse as desired when not within the specified range of a snappable item.
• Shared Edit mode - An invaluable editing tool: when shared edit mode is on, operations at a given spot affect all objects with coordinates at that spot.  For example, if two areas share a common border clicking and dragging one of the areas to move coordinates on the border will automatically move coordinates for the neighboring area so no gaps or overlaps appear.
• Insert Geographic Circle tool  - Like almost all professional and enterprise quality GIS packages, Manifold draws objects (like circles) based upon the native coordinate systems of the projection in use.  A key use of projections is to make such objects (like circles) appear in their correct shapes.  However, at times we want to create geographic circles that regardless of the projection in use are guaranteed to extend a given geodesic radius from a point even though the resulting figure does not appear to be a circle in the projection in use.  This tool provides that capability and is especially handy when working over such large regions of the Earth's surface that projection distortion is unavoidable.

Labels

• Options removed in 6.00 SP1 are back  - In response to user outcry over their removal (!) all label display options, such as the ability to place multiple labels along a line object, which were removed in 6.00 SP1 have been restored.
• Callouts - Callouts are lines running from a label's anchor point to the label. They make it much easier in complex settings to visually associate labels with the objects they denote.  Callouts work with all new capabilities to interactively place labels.
• Smarter placement of point labels - Previous releases had limited ability to automatically move labels to resolve overlaps.  6.50 features much smarter abilities to resolve label overlaps by automatically nudging labels in horizontal or vertical directions.
• Tools for adding line labels - Line labels may now be added using new tools that take advantage of 6.50's enhanced ability to display labels that automatically follow curvy lines.
• Labels following lines have been improved - Line labels now automatically split label text between words and even between characters to allow each part of the text to be individually rotated and placed along a line, including extensions over line segments to make use of the full shape of a parent line. Options include inter-character spacing as well as other controls.   This results in dramatically improved appearance and placement of labels that follow curvy lines.
• Custom label metrics - The metric of a label is the geometric shape of the label.  6.50 not only allows multiple labels per parent object but also allows the shape of labels to be edited independently of the shape of the parent object.
• Custom formatting  - Labels now support per-label formatting so that all the labels in a given labels component need not have he same format.  Select one or more labels and then format them as desired, and they will thereafter be decoupled from the default format which continues to be applied to new labels or other labels for which a custom format has not been specified. Labels with custom formatting may be reset at any time to again use the default formatting.

Surfaces  

• Corner / center-pixel issues resolved - In previous editions of Manifold many dialogs and other routines that worked with surfaces and images made slightly different assumptions about the exact locations of pixels, reckoning coordinates either at a corner or in the center.  In 6.50 all routines now use a single, unified concept for pixel location, thus eliminating a small but significant class of bugs as well as eliminating variations in usage that while not constituting bugs made life unnecessarily difficult for users.
• Interpolation margins - Surfaces may now be interpolated (or extrapolated as some would call it) beyond the bounding boxes of point sets used for the interpolation.  This allows creating surfaces which extend some distance beyond a point set, a frequent requirement to avoid gaps and lack of coverage in some applications.
• Interpolation parameters saved - Interpolation parameters used when creating a surface are automatically stored for future reuse.
• “No interpolation” choice - Surface creation dialogs offer a No interpolation choice for the method, which enables literal use of data values.  This is useful when converting a surface to a table, modifying values in the table to accomplish some custom editing task and then recreating the surface from the literal values in the table.
• Voronoi neighbors - Surface creating dialogs allow restricting the interpolation method used to reckoning only the Voronoi neighbors of each interpolated point. This allows restricting interpolations to natural "fences" of data, such as occur when interpolating surfaces from contour lines and provides greatly improved surfaces in such cases.
• Window computations - Many operations on surfaces, such as query operators, now allow specification of a moving matrix window, such as a 3 x 3 or 5 x 5 matrix, within which computations occur.  This provides fine control over the balance between the degree of localization desired in such computations.
• Hydrology functions in Surface Tools - The Surface Tools extension now includes numerous hydrology functions such as the automatic computation of watersheds, streams, flow direction, flow accumulation, watersheds and upstream areas.  In addition, objects created by hydrology computations can be automatically ordered by data attributes giving their Strahler or Shreve ordering.

 Input / Output  

• JPEG 2000 - Manifold now supports JPEG 2000 as a compressed image type as well as ECW.
• TerraServer -  Manifold can now automatically fetch images from TerraServer for a given area of interest.  Images may be dynamically linked from TerraServer or imported as standalone images using a variety of options for resolution. 
• MrSID - Images in MrSID format may now be imported using any one of a series of compatible MrSID decoders that are now freely downloadable from many web sites at no charge.  Manifold uses the decoder in background to appear to import the image using standard File - Import dialogs as with any other format. 
• MapInfo Formatting and Styles -  Manifold now includes all styles and formatting capabilities available in MapInfo releases.  MapInfo .mid/.mif and .tab files may now be imported into Manifold drawing with styles and formatting preserved.
• PRJ files written on shapefile export - In addition to reading .prj file projection information when importing shapefiles, Manifold now also will create an accompanying .prj file in ESRI format when exporting a shapefile.
• Numerous  enhancements - Many importers have received numerous small enhancements.  For example, DWG and DXF imports support many more capabilities of these AutoDesk formats.

 Tables and Queries  

• Codepages instead of languages - The best national language support arises when using Unicode text fields.  For those users desiring to work with ASCII text types, Manifold now allows specification of codepages instead of merely specifying a generic language.  Since most languages have more than one codepage in use in computing, this allows users exact control over how their language is represented and used in Manifold text data.
• Larger amounts of data - Numerous improvements in table algorithms, memory management and internal structures have greatly expanded the maximum practical size of tables in Manifold, allowing much larger tables before performance is unacceptably impacted.
• Faster queries - Queries and many query operators now run much faster in most cases.  Some queries, such as spatial operators, run dozens of times faster, especially with large and complex data sets.
• Richer queries - Numerous additional query operators have been added.
• Geom (I)  - Tables now provide a Geom (I) intrinsic fields which allows sophisticated use of queries to dynamically extract objects from larger data sets and to copy and paste objects between drawings or to update the shapes of objects using queries.
• SKIP quantifier - The SKIP quantifier allows paging through data returned by queries to make certain common operations much easier. For example, an IMS web page that returns pages of data can now use the SKIP quantifier in queries to easily page through the returned data a desired number of records at a time.
• Auto-complete - Manifold queries now provide two modes of auto-completion: completion of the names of SQL language elements such as statements, operators and quantifiers as well as auto-completion of table and column names as the query is being written.  A special (optional) mode allows automatic pop up of lists of completion candidates without having to press any escape key sequence.

 Cartography  

• Mixed static / dynamic legends - Legends have been dramatically improved to provide either fixed legend elements or legend elements that are dynamically updated or a mix of both.
• Escape sequences in legends  - Legend elements can now utilize dozens of escape sequences to insert text that is automatically generated, such as the names of layers or the date and time.
• Continuous shade legends  - Instead of only providing fixed color wells at given numeric values to show formatting, legends can now show a bar with a gradient color range and desired values noted on the bar using a variety of options.
• More control over line weights - Layouts and legends now allow greater control over line widths.  This makes it easy to avoid problems when using printers with very high DPI that might print lines too fine to see if only default line widths were available.
• Layout templates - Layouts may now be saved as templates so that frequently used layouts need not be created from scratch.  Templates can include numerous elements, such as corporate logos and other items.

 User Interface

• Saved positions of toolbars and panes - Manifold now remembers between sessions which toolbars and panes were opened as well as their positions.
• Saved views - Components left open when closing a project will be remembered so that when next the project is opened windows will be opened to the same view.  This is a great timesaver, especially when working with very large components where some time may be required to pan and zoom to a particular view.
• Startup view - If a view is saved in the Views pane using the name Startup when the component is opened the system will automatically open the component to that view.  This is very useful in IMS applications to ensure that a particular view is always the starting point for display.
• Zoom combo - The Navigation Toolbar now includes a scale combo making it easy to zoom a view to a particular zoom scale.   With layouts, the zoom combo allows zooming to a percentage scale, with 100% representing the true size on screen of the layout as it will be printed.
• Scroll wheel - The scroll wheel on wheel mice may now be used to zoom in and out.  Scroll wheel zoom works even in the middle of editing commands.  For example, we can start creating a line, zoom out with the scroll wheel to bring the next coordinate location in view and then zoom back in as desired.
• User-defined zoom magnification factor - The Tools - Option  dialog allows setting zoom jumps in between zoom levels from a factor of 1.1 (small changes) to a factor of 4.0 (large jumps).  Specify smaller factors to provide smoother zooms such as when using the scroll wheel a lot.
• Save / load coordinate system - Projections dialogs now include a toolbar with commands to load and save coordinate systems from popular formats, including .xml files as well as .prj files used with shapefiles and .grs files used in Surfer applications.

 Miscellaneous  

• Improved MapPoint geocoding - Manifold will geocode much faster and more accurately when using MapPoint European or North American editions as external geocoding data sources, especially when IMS applications are running.
• Better copy / paste - Numerous internal improvements in copy and paste allow copy and paste between expanded component types while preserving richer accessory data, such as international settings for decimal point type (dot or comma).
• Advanced text editing commands - Additional commands in the Advanced editing sub-menu allow functions such as automatic commenting of a wide variety of languages.
• Friendlier and richer scripting - Numerous enhancements and simplifications allow easier and more powerful scripting.
• Friendlier scripting of web pages - Numerous features have been provided to make web page scripting easier.  For example, users can now refer to queries by their names instead of a (difficult to use) query ID number.
• Custom coordinate system conversions - Dedicated datum conversions using NADCON and NTv2 will automatically be used for transformations between supported datum pairs.  Users may supply their own custom grid files to support a very wide variety of such custom transformations worldwide.
• Large terrain shots - Terrain images are now captured using a new rendering pipeline that allows terrain images of arbitrary size and resolution, eliminating the previous constraint to monitor resolution.
• Enhanced terrain vector overlays - Terrains can now show overlays with area objects shown as 3D extruded shapes, a very useful display for simulating building locations.  The height of such area objects can be taken from a field (such as building height), colors may be specified via thematic formatting some areas can be turned off for display using invisible foreground color.
• Custom panes - Programmers may now add custom panes that can handle events.
• Numerous additional undo actions - As is usual with every Manifold release, additional single-step undo capabilities have been added for all new commands as well as numerous pre-6.50 commands.

Thanks

Suggestions and other reports were received from over 100 countries for features and bug fixes incorporated into 6.50.

Thanks go out to all 6.50 beta testers and contributors from all over the world, including the US, Canada, UK, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. 

Although many beta testers worked very hard, even in this elite group some contributors stood out. Special thanks go out for an extra effort to Stephen Balakirsky (US), David Brubacher (Canada), James Burn (Canada), Ben Clement (US), Colin Driscoll (Australia), Klaus Engelberg (Germany), Hugh Gladwin (US), Simon Greener (Australia), Graeme Greenwood (Australia), Robert Heitzman (US), William Howell (US), Arthur Lembo (US), Peter Ronning (Canada) and Mike Sumner (Australia). 

Thanks everyone for helping make 6.50 a terrific release!

Limited Time Upgrade to Manifold 6.50 Offer

Manifold 6.00 licensees interested in upgrading from 6.00 to 6.50 can do so for only $50, plus shipping, under the terms of a limited time upgrade offer.  Until September 15, 2005, a Manifold 6.00 licensee may upgrade from 6.00 to 6.50 for only $50.  After September 15, 2005, the price of the 6.50 upgrade will increase to $150 until December 15, 2005, at which point the upgrade offer will be discontinued.  The limited time upgrade offer requires a valid 6.00 serial number as well as Internet connectivity to connect to the Online Store to place an order via credit card or to complete a purchase process if paying by PO, wire transfer or prepaid check.

See the Upgrade to 6.50 FAQ for details.  Save money and upgrade now!

Manifold System Release 6.50 Free Upgrades 

The next major update to Manifold System, Release 6.50, will begin shipping during the week of June 14, 2004.  Release 6.50 includes several major system upgrades and hundreds of minor improvements.  All 6.00 licensees who acquired their licenses on or after June 1, 2005, will automatically be sent a 6.50 license at no charge.  All 6.00 licensees who acquired their licenses before June 1, 2005, may utilize the limited time upgrade offer to upgrade to Release 6.50 for $50 (plus $5 shipping anywhere in the world). 

Place your order today for 6.50 upgrades on the Manifold Online Store.