Manifold
System Release 5.50 Highlights
Manifold
System Release 5.50 Highlights
This page has been provided for Manifold System 5.00 users as a quick summary of major improvements delivered in Manifold System Release 5.50.
Based on thousands of comments from 5.00 users, Release 5.50 development emphasized four main areas:5.50 Highlights
| Limitless projects
| Manifold projects now have no size limit. 5.00 was limited to 1GB (Win9x) or
2GB (WinXP, 2K, XP) in size.
|
| Reduced memory operations | Manifold now supports unlimited sized projects and tasks even if the amount of physical RAM is limited. |
| Large images and surfaces
| Images and surfaces can now be as large as 16 exabytes (a trillion gigabytes)
in size.
|
| Large components
| Drawings, labels, tables, comments and other components can now be as large as
4 gigabtyes each.
|
| Automatic intermediate views
| Manifold now automatically builds and caches intermediate views when working
with large images or surfaces for better performance. This feature makes
working with large images dramatically faster.
|
| Hyperlinks in IMS
| IMS pages can now support hyperlinks within displayed maps, for click and go
hotlinks. Table reports in IMS (such as the results of using the Info
tool) that contain URL-type columns will automatically be hyperlinked as
well.
Together with layer restrictions, click accuracy settings and other improvements, IMS improvements in 5.50
make many new applications possible.
|
| Automatic IMS refresh of linked components | If a linked table or linked drawing is used within an IMS project, IMS will automatically refresh the table or drawing. This allows use of highly dynamic data within an IMS web site. |
| Support for ASP .NET
| Manifold IMS works within Microsoft's ASP.NET (with dedicated ASP .NET
templates) and with the latest generation of Microsoft .NET servers. Enhancements to
IMS coding options allow compatibility with older tools, such as Cold Fusion,
as well.
|
| US Streets Address Geocoder
| Manifold now includes a street address geocoder for US streets (Requires installation of Manifold Geocoding Database). The
geocoding engine may be used in SQL queries, from scripts and programs and from
within IMS. Experts agree that Manifold's new 5.50 geocoder is clearly
superior to MapInfo's $8950 MapMarker geocoder product. See the Manifold
5.5 vs MapInfo MapMarker comparison page for a useful
point-by-point comparison.
|
| Linked drawings
| Linked drawings are drawings containing points and lines that are automatically created from
geocoded tables kept in files or databases external to Manifold.. They are used within Manifold interactively and especially
within IMS to display data that is likely to change. For example, suppose
we have a table in SQL Server that lists the locations of trucks in our
fleet. Each record has the name of a truck, information about the load and
a latitude and longitude field with the current location of the
truck. The table is updated by software that reads the GPS location
of the trucks through a pager network. Manifold 5.50 can create a
linked drawing that automatically shows the locations of the trucks based
on the SQL Server table. As new records are added to, deleted from
or edited in the SQL Server table, the drawing will automatically add new
points, delete points or move them. This works in IMS too! Use
this capability not only in applications like vehicle locators, but in any
application where it is more convenient to keep the location and status of
items in a database table than within a Manifold project. For
example, it may be more convenient to keep the status of a list of dealers
or ATM machines in an Access .mdb table or an Oracle database table, where
other software that doesn't know anything about GIS can update it easily.
|
| Import of tables as drawings
| Geocoded tables can now be directly imported as drawings.
|
| New printing system
| Layouts have been upgraded into a highly WYSIWYG printing system. Upgrades include
the ability to export layouts to .ps or .pdf formats.
Layouts will display a printed page exactly as it will appear when
printed. Beta testers often report that the incredible new print
layout and printing capabilities are their favorite parts of 5.50.
|
| Sizes given in points
| Most elements previously sized in pixels are now sized in printer's points
(1/72 inch) to allow exact WYSIWYG effects in printing. Fractional sizes are
supported for very fine lines.
|
| Info pane enabled
| Use the Info pane to browse the selection, to locate objects and to display object fields.
This allows zooming to selections and stepping through a selection item by
item to see the fields for each object.
|
| Layer restrictions
| Using the Layers pane or right clicking on layer tabs, layers in maps can be specified to be
clickable, editable or selectable. Layer restrictions are important
tools when building IMS applications. They make it possible to
display background layers in IMS maps without having to worry that users
will click on them with the Info tool or will get strange results if
clicking on them to launch a hyperlink.
|
| ODBC driver for Manifold .map files
| Manifold's ODBC driver allows non-Manifold applications to reach into .map files for data.
|
| Transparent foreground color hides objects
| 5.50 introduces a new convention, that assigning transparent color as the
foreground color of an object will hide the entire object. This allows hiding
objects based on a thematic format. The main use for this important new
capability is to set up formats that automatically hide or display objects
based on whether they are selected, by using the Selection (I) intrinsic
field to guide formatting. This allows creating IMS applications
that only show selected objects in layers. For example, a dealer
locator application might only show those dealer points that are within
ten miles of a given address or zip code.
|
| Improvements in Terrains
| Surfaces can now have any number of terrains that are formatted differently.
Terrains can show labels either as 3D objects or as embedded textures, and
terrains support transparency for embedded textures as well as other improvements.
|
| New Imports
| Important new formats such as NITF for military images, TIGER/Line 2002,
Ordnance Survey GML for UK users and SRTM for space shuttle terrain elevation data
have been added.
|
| Improved OLE DB and ODBC import
| Table import menus have been simplified to allow a single pathway for
importing or linking tables regardless of the source.
|
| Improved OLE DB performance
| The entire OLE DB layer has been optimized for much faster performance.
|
| Image and surface rotation
| Images and surfaces may now be rotated using floating-point precision for
rotation angles, allowing rotation to fractions of a degree.
|
| Move, rotate, flip and scale
| Transform toolbars in drawings allow move, rotate, flip and re-sizing of
objects.
|
| Improved GPS Console
| The GPS Console can now download waypoints as well as auto-scanning for COM ports above the
usual two.
|
| ViewBots improved
| ViewBots now work with drawings and drawing layers in maps, an extremely
useful way of interactively viewing data.
|
| DSN files may be imported or linked
| Tables may be imported or linked directly from DSN files (used with ODBC as
UDL files are with OLE DB).
|
| Improved Database Console
| The Command Console has been renamed the Database Console and includes
improved features.
|
| Optimized selection contexts
| 5.50 optimizes work done on selections in images to truncate effects only to
those pixels that must be dealt with. This is an internal optimization yielding
great performance benefits.
|
| Improved color matching algorithms
| Conversion from RGB/RGBa to palette images using fixed palettes works faster
and more precisely.
|
| Improved color reduction algorithms
| Quantize and Dither functions in grayscale images use much more accurate color
mappings.
|
| Numerous tuned effects and commands
| Colorize, Contrast, Diffuse, Filter,
Flouresce, Gaussian Blur, Median Cross,
Median Square, Motion Blur, Quantize, Relief and other commands have been tuned
for better performance and more accurate colors.
|
| Quantize human eye algorithm
| Quantize now always uses the Wu algorithm in a slightly modified form that
favors G/R/B channel response to match the frequency sensitivity of the human eye.
This results in more "natural" looking quantized colors.
|
| Improved surface Quantize
| Quantize now works much faster and more precisely on surfaces.
|
| In-place memory algorithms
| Numerous transforms and commands have been re-written to use in-place memory
with no need to create temp copies of data. This increases performance and
reduces temp disk space requirements.
|
| Intellimouse support
| Third and fourth button Back and Forward commands issued by Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer and similar multi-button
mice are now recognized by component windows.
|
For a comprehensive (and mind-numbing) list of all 471 listed changes, see the 5.50 Release Notes page.
Limited Time Upgrade to Manifold 5.50 Offer
Manifold 5.00 licensees interested in upgrading from 5.00 to 5.50 can do so for only $50, plus shipping, under the terms of a limited time upgrade offer. Until 15 March, 2003, a Manifold 5.00 licensee may upgrade from 5.00 to 5.50 for only $50. After 15 March, 2003, the price of the 5.50 upgrade will increase to $150 until 1 May, 2003, at which point the upgrade offer will be discontinued. See the Upgrade to 5.50 Frequently Asked Questions page for details. Save money and upgrade now!
Manifold 5.50 Geocoder / MapInfo MapMarker Comparison Published
See a detailed, point-for-point comparison between the Manifold Geocoder that is a $50 option for Manifold System Release 5.50 and MapInfo's $8,950 MapMarker geocoder. Manifold's geocoder provides the same accuracy as MapMarker, and delivers all key features MapMarker does, but Manifold's geocoder also provides numerous powerful and sophisticated features MapMarker does not have. Save $8,900 and get a better geocoder to boot! See the Street Address Geocoding topic in the Manifold 5.50 user manual for additional details.
Manifold System Release 5.50 Ships on 7 February!
The next major update to Manifold System, Release 5.50, began shipping on 7 February. Release 5.50 include several major system upgrades and hundreds of minor improvements. All 5.00 licensees who acquired their licenses in December, 2002 or January, 2003, will automatically be sent a 5.50 license at no charge. All 5.00 licensees who acquired their licenses before December, 2002, will receive a limited time offer at their current email of record to upgrade to Release 5.50 for $50 (plus $5 shipping anywhere in the world). Release 5.50 allows unlimited size projects using images and surfaces of unlimited size, with the maximum size of drawings and tables extended to four gigabytes each. Printing and print layouts have been tremendously enhanced into a high-accuracy, truly WYSIWYG system. Numerous enhancements to IMS allow Manifold's map server to power many new classes of map-enabled web sites, including vehicle tracking applications and other dynamically varying applications. Release 5.50 includes an optional US street address geocoder that may be used either interactively or exploited within web applications using IMS to create address-enabled web sites.
Place your order today for 5.50 on the Manifold Online Store.
|
Home Page -
Products -
Search -
Support -
Shopping -
News -
Online Store Prices, terms and conditions, and product specifications subject to change without notice. Please contact Manifold Net with any special needs or requests. |