45 replies to this topic

[ELeFevre]

Ahhh....I've been waiting for this. I'm placing my order tonight. Erin

[ELeFevre]

This morning I received my Manifold 6.5 disk and so far so good. Before purchasing I was a little concerned about the difficulty of the interface based on a few comments on the board, but now after a few hours of use, all of my initial concerns are gone. In fact, I really like the way it's setup.

I have not had the time yet to dive into the complexities of the program (and the help files are MASSIVE), but the everyday GIS tasks seem to be fairly straightforward, fast, and return great results. I also exported a layout into AI ( following Martin's instructions) and ended up with really clean file in only a few short steps.

Tonight I'll check out the geocoding capabilities....

Money well spent. Erin

[Hans van der Maarel]

The geocoding is pretty good, at least in the setup I'm using (MapPoint as geocoding engine). Just follow the examples in the help files and you'll find it's rather easy.

[ELeFevre]

Just follow the examples in the help files and you'll find it's rather easy.

The Manifold team has done a really good job with the examples and the help files. Everything is well explained and they walk you through step by step. I have also been thinking about purchasing the Manifold instruction videos (6.0) from www.gisadvisor.com. I've read several positive comments on the Manifold discussion forums.
Erin

[rudy]

I use ESRI's ArcGIS in my day job and Manifold for my freelancing work. I find both software packages lacking in some respect but when I consider the price tag, I'd have to say that Manifold is definitely worth its cost. If I'm doing a high end cartographic product I'll end up exporting from either ArcMap or Manifold, depending on the situation, and finishing the map in a graphics package. With regards to upgrades, it's hard to go wrong with a $50US price for Manifold. Sure beats the $000 spent on maintenance licences for ESRI.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Erin,

I have also been thinking about purchasing the Manifold instruction videos (6.0) from www.gisadvisor.com.

Same here, just haven't gotten around to actually doing it. I think it's great value for money and the reviews are excellent indeed.

[araki5]

Just curious,
I use Arcmap, AutoCad Map, and Illustrator10. I've found that PDF that are exported from ArcMap, Auto etc, are not very user-friendly, i.e. useful for large mapping ops. If I have to use a pdf(like I got it from someone else)I can't use ArcMap or AutoCad, I'm forced to use Illustrator(keep in mind I don't have MAPUBLISHER).

So, does Manifold have some type of functionality for using pdf files? Would I be able to do some pretty nice/advanced stuff(artsy, but also keeping some attributes, like x,y coords).

It would be really nice to have that functionality to go from PDF to .shp without having to spend $1000 US.

[Nick Springer]

If the PDF is not protected, you could open it in Illustrator, clean it up if necessary (add layers, etc.), and then export it as a DXF and import that into Manifold (I don't know about ArcGIS).

You wouldn't automatically have any geographic coordinates, but you could use control points to add them.

[Martin Gamache]

export it as a DXF and import that into Manifold (I don't know about ArcGIS).

You wouldn't automatically have any geographic coordinates, but you could use control points to add them.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Check here for details on the procedure for ARCMAP: link

Araki,

PDFs are not a geo aware format in general although I recall reading something about that maybe changing... But since you have access to arcmap it would be just as easy to rasterize your PDF and import it as an image and georeference it using the Georeferencing toolbar. If you want vectors you will need to follow the procedure above.

[melon_mapper]

You can bring DXF files into ArcMap, but you may have to georeference it. I have had alot of CAD files that I brought in and either they lined up nicely to my base layer or I had to georeference them to DOQ's.

John

[bchubb]

If the PDF is not protected, you could open it in Illustrator, clean it up if necessary (add layers, etc.), and then export it as a DXF

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's a freeware method (I don't have Illustrator)...... I had to extract vector contours from a pdf and found this method worked well...... They can then be imported into in Manifold or wherever for geoereferencing.

You will need Ghostscript http://www.ghostscript.com/
Obtain AFPL Ghostscript 7.04 (gs704w32.exe) from
http://www.cs.wisc.e...AFPL/get704.htm

and

GhostscriptView (GSview is a graphical interface for Ghostscrip)
http://www.cs.wisc.e...sview/get43.htm

and

pstoedit
http://www.pstoedit.net/pstoedit
or from
http://www.cs.wisc.e...ew/pstoedit.htm

(from GhostscriptView help)
You can convert a PostScript or PDF file to an editable vector format using pstoedit by Wolfgang Glunz. pstoedit is licensed with the GNU Public Licence and is not included with GSview. You will need to download it separately from the pstoedit homepage

To use pstoedit from within GSview, use Edit | Convert to vector format



Bryan

[woneil]

If the PDF is not protected, you could open it in Illustrator, clean it up if necessary (add layers, etc.), and then export it as a DXF and import that into Manifold (I don't know about ArcGIS).

Just a comment about Nick's aside concerning PDF protection. PDF protection is a joke. It's really purely consensual, in that it works only if the software with which you open the file is programmed to notice and honor the protection. Of course all of Adobe's programs do (and Adobe has been pressing other s/w vendors to do likewise). But if you have the legal right to do so then there is nothing to stop you from stripping the protection from a PDF so that you can get Illustrator (for instance) to open it.

There are many programs (from legitimate vendors, not ones who sail under the Jolly Roger) which will accomplish this. The one I use is Ovis PDF-Recover, which is cheap and easy to use. The program simply opens the PDF without paying attention to the "protection" and then writes a new one which is identical except that the protection is left out. (Of course this will not work on a file that has user-level protection, requiring a password simply to open it at all.)

Of course if the file is lawfully copyrighted then one cannot use this to violate the terms of copyright. Similarly, one may not use it to violate the terms of license. (Always assuming that I am not addressing any pirates!) But in many cases people attempt to use encryption to enforce control that they have no legal right to exercise, and a program such as this is very useful in such cases. It is certainly difficult for me to envision any cases in which the act of stripping protection to import a file into Illustrator would in itself violate anyone's lawful rights.

[gtown]

I just recxently learned of manifold. I asked in a few listservs about compatibility between ArcGIS and Manifold. I was told that manifold can not read MRSID files or geodatabases.

Is that true? Any option/solutions? Convert everything to shapefiles?

All help appreciated,

Neil

[Hans van der Maarel]

I'm not sure about geodatabases, but Manifold can't read MrSid images. You can convert those to TIFF, import them in Manifold and then export as ECW.

[Martin Gamache]

Manifold can be configured to work with databases with the enterprise edition and it can now read SID files in version 6.5.