12:03:03 PM Amy Sebring:On behalf of the EIIP, I am pleased to welcome you to a special event in our Tech Arena. Our topic today is "Manifold System 4: High End GIS and Network Analysis for Very Low Cost." 12:03:12 PM Amy Sebring:Please hold all questions and comments until we get to the Q&A portion of the program about half past the hour. We will review the instructions at that time. 12:03:23 PM Amy Sebring:I will also point out for any newcomers that when a full URL is typed in the message area, it becomes a hot link, so you can just click on it, and a webpage will display in another browser window. 12:03:32 PM Amy Sebring:And now, it is my pleasure to introduce Dimitri Rotow, Marketing Manger for Manifold Ltd. ... 12:03:41 PM Amy Sebring:For those of you who attended the online class I presented in April, this was a product I mentioned during that session. I speculated at the time that you might need Microsoft Access in addition ... 12:03:50 PM Amy Sebring:and Dimitri wrote to me and pointed out the error of my ways! 12:03:57 PM Amy Sebring:Welcome Dimitri and thank you for taking time to be with us today. 12:04:01 PM Dimitri Rotow:Thank you, Amy. Hello, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. Today, I'll be introducing Manifold System, a new type of mapping software... 12:04:13 PM Dimitri Rotow:I'd say there are four generations of mapping software . I'll illustrate these with sample pictures from Manifold that show capabilities typical of each of these generations... 12:04:30 PM Dimitri Rotow:The first generation is software that uses computers to draw digital maps of a given area on demand... 12:04:53 PM Dimitri Rotow:My first slide is a screen shot of a small map showing an area in the Himalayas. (Amy, if you could please display that now)... 12:04:57 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr1.htm 12:05:32 PM Dimitri Rotow:It can be a real benefit to have virtually any map at your finger tips when managing an emergency situation. It's great to be able to zoom in or out as necessary, or to add or delete map information to get exactly the right map that's needed.... 12:05:55 PM Dimitri Rotow:Frequently one wants more than just a pretty map. One needs the data "behind" the map. The second generation of mapping software combines map-drawing capability together with data base capability to create a Geographic Information System (GIS).... 12:06:11 PM Dimitri Rotow:In a GIS, the pictures of objects on the map can be used to fetch data base information associated with those objects... 12:06:31 PM Dimitri Rotow:My second slide shows a part of a database table associated with a map of states in Mexico. (Second slide, please)... 12:06:39 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr2.htm 12:06:56 PM Dimitri Rotow:For example, one might combine a map of locations of fire stations with a database of equipment that is located at each station.... 12:07:10 PM Dimitri Rotow:Using standard database techniques such as queries, one could use such a map/database to find all fire stations equipped with certain chemical hazard equipment and display them on the map as unique icons.... 12:07:30 PM Dimitri Rotow:In a simple GIS, the database capability is a "display only" capability. In a more advanced GIS such as Manifold, the database capability can be used to manipulate the data in sophisticated ways... 12:07:44 PM Dimitri Rotow:In our screen shot, for example, one can simply point and click to sort columns, to change items, and so on... 12:08:00 PM Dimitri Rotow:The combination of database and map drawing is the key to visualizing complex data sets such as demographic data... 12:08:18 PM Dimitri Rotow:In the next slide, we see the populations of individual city blocks in Palo Alto plotted as different colored dots. (Next slide, please)... 12:08:23 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr3.htm 12:08:54 PM Dimitri Rotow:That's great. Now, suppose we want to draw an area covering part of the city, and automatically find how many people live there? That's a request for analysis.... 12:09:19 PM Dimitri Rotow:The third generation of GIS software adds analytic capability, the ability to use the computer to "think through" complex relationships or mathematical tasks. This goes by a variety of names depending on the function performed... 12:09:42 PM Dimitri Rotow:For example, one might have a database of hospitals drawn on a map of a coastal zone. A classic "spatial" analysis would be to find all hospitals that are located within one mile of the coast.... 12:10:14 PM Dimitri Rotow:My next slide shows a region in the Sierra Nevada mountains with old gold mines and "buffer zones" drawn around the maps at 250, 500, and 1000 meters radius. (Next slide,please)... 12:10:17 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr4.htm 12:10:47 PM Dimitri Rotow:The small red numbers show the elevation of each map using database function. One could use such a map in searching for a lost hiker, to see if perhaps he's fallen into an abandoned mine... 12:11:12 PM Dimitri Rotow:More sophisticated analysis might use map data of terrain heights to draw contour lines that could show what areas would be flooded at different waterline heights... 12:11:34 PM Dimitri Rotow:So what is the fourth generation? In our view it is a matter of integration using modern software techniques. 12:11:55 PM Dimitri Rotow:Previous generations of GIS software have tended to be map-drawing programs that have had database and then analysis capabilities "bolted on" as retrofits... 12:12:13 PM Dimitri Rotow:Sophisticated analysis is rarely present. When present, it is difficult to use and stratospherically expensive... 12:12:31 PM Dimitri Rotow:For example, some famous GIS packages cost thousands of dollars, yet they still use "command line" user interfaces like MS-DOS or UNIX used to use... 12:12:45 PM Dimitri Rotow: We prefer modern, point-and-click Windows interfaces... 12:13:48 PM Amy Sebring:We have lost Dimitri... 12:13:54 PM Amy Sebring:temporarily we hope. 12:14:14 PM Amy Sebring:I will go ahead and put up the next slide to load while we are waiting. 12:14:17 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr5.htm 12:14:40 PM Dimitri Rotow:back! 12:14:41 PM Amy Sebring:Ok, Dimitri, go ahead where you left off. 12:14:48 PM Amy Sebring:I have the next slide up already. 12:14:57 PM Dimitri Rotow:In my next slide, we see part of Manifold's "point and click" spatial analysis toolbar. (Next slide please) Using modern interfaces, even a non-expert can do sophisticated spatial analysis.... 12:15:22 PM Dimitri Rotow:In our view, a fourth generation GIS is one that has been designed from inception to integrate analysis, database, and map drawing, and which has been created within modern Windows technology using the latest user interfaces... 12:15:39 PM Dimitri Rotow:Manifold System is such a fourth generation software system. It has been developed using the same technical methods that have allowed PCs to revolutionize computing.... 12:15:56 PM Dimitri Rotow:Just like PCs do more yet cost less than the minicomputers of an earlier era, Manifold uses modern technology to accomplish far more than earlier GIS's, yet it costs only $79. 12:16:10 PM Dimitri Rotow:Take my last slide (Amy, please..) as an example: this is a preview of 3D visualization using a new Manifold product, our 3D analysis package.... 12:16:34 PM Amy Sebring:http://www.emforum.org/varena/manifold/dr6.htm 12:16:50 PM Dimitri Rotow:The blue areas in the preview rectangle are the areas in the map that are visible from the blue dot. The main 3D image shows a "line of sight" running from the blue dot to the red dot... 12:17:12 PM Dimitri Rotow:With older systems, a simple "line of sight" analysis costs thousands of dollars. With Manifold, you get that plus you get the zones visible as well as a simple line.... 12:17:28 PM Dimitri Rotow:Amy, do I have time for a few words outlining the contents of the System, or should we move on to Q & A? 12:17:45 PM Amy Sebring:Yes go ahead and add a few words if you like Dimitri. 12:17:54 PM Dimitri Rotow:OK...Manifold works with geographic data from a wide variety of sources, or with so-called "abstract" coordinates. Geographic data uses latitudes and longitudes, while abstract maps use X and Y coordinates. Abstract maps are like CAD diagrams... 12:18:11 PM Dimitri Rotow:In geographic work, Manifold supports numerous map projections and earth ellipsoids. These include UTM and State Plane Coordinate systems. One can use Manifold to convert a map from one projection into a different projection... 12:18:26 PM Dimitri Rotow:In abstract work, Manifold can display data that originated in CAD diagrams. For example, you could display a map of a chemical factory that was originally drawn in AutoCAD, and use the various database and analysis facilities of Manifold on that factory diagram as you would with an ordinary GIS and a geographic map.... 12:18:47 PM Dimitri Rotow:Finally, Manifold has the unusual ability to import databases and to create networks using any fields as X and Y coordinates. This is used in two ways: first, to visualize databases as plotted diagrams for data mining purposes, and second, to draw maps of purely abstract networks such as the relationships between pages of a web site or between computers, routers, and other elements in a computer network.... 12:19:11 PM Dimitri Rotow:data import: Other vendors tend to sell import capability as separate modules, or to sell data in proprietary formats. It can be very profitable to take public domain government data (such as USGS maps), convert it to a private GIS format, and then sell the data to the "captive audience" of one's GIS products. We take a different approach... 12:19:39 PM Dimitri Rotow:Manifold includes converters for the major government formats: DLG-O, SDTS, VPF, TIGER95, and TIGER97. We also convert data from AutoCAD DXF, ESRI SHP, and MapInfo MID/MIF. Finally, Manifold can import data from nearly any database and numerous types of networks using SNMP, TCP/IP, and DNS. Our native database format is Microsoft's own MDB, so we can directly read any Microsoft standard database such as Access... 12:20:04 PM Dimitri Rotow:This makes it possible for Manifold users to download free government data from sources such as USGS and to use that data as they see fit. Likewise, one can use TIGER/Line data on streets, boundaries, and Zip+4 codes for free. ... 12:20:25 PM Dimitri Rotow:This is all copyright free stuff, so you don't have to pay a third party anything to make copies for all the people on your team.... 12:20:44 PM Dimitri Rotow:OK. As part of creating great maps, Manifold has a host of formatting and editing features. It includes the ability to automatically change the way an object is drawn based on the content of a data field associated with that object. This is commonly called "thematic mapping." ... 12:21:10 PM Dimitri Rotow:We also provide a wealth of editing capabilities. Objects may be created, moved, cut, pasted, distorted, alighned and more. The "morph" tool performs global edit operations, such as "orthogonalizing" an area of the map, or fixing broken data problems such as points that don't match up with lines..... 12:21:35 PM Dimitri Rotow:This reminds me: Manifold can treat any drawing of points and lines as a network for network analytic purposes. If you draw a map of a road system, Manifold can automatically analyze that drawing as a real network, to do things like compute distances, find emergency service centers and the like... 12:21:53 PM Dimitri Rotow:Our approach to analysis is to encapsulate math within black boxes we call "solvers." There are about 150 solvers in Manifold now, covering the areas of Spatial Analysis, Geometry, Networks, Statistics and utility solvers. ... 12:22:19 PM Dimitri Rotow:Solvers can be simple things, like finding the mean and variance of some data attribute associated with a group of objects you've selected, or they can be profoundly deep things, such as solvers that find incident clusters using Gabriel networks or provide spatial/surface interpolation using Akima method... 12:22:41 PM Dimitri Rotow:Either way, you don't have to know the math to use the solver. All of the solvers are "point and click" black boxes that hide the math within a simple, mouse based user interface.... 12:23:05 PM Dimitri Rotow:However, if you like to do custom work and feel ready, willing, and able to write your own solvers, you can do so using the Scripting system built into Manifold. Every copy of Manifold includes Microsoft's Visual Basic scripting system as well as a full script editing user interface and sub system.... 12:23:30 PM Dimitri Rotow:Well, that's about 5% of the system I've mentioned. For the rest, I'd suggest a visit to our rather large web site. In conclusion, we believe that the affordability of Manifold coupled with unprecedented analytic capability would be especially helpful to the emergency services community. That concludes my prepared remarks. 12:23:51 PM Amy Sebring:Thank you Dimitri... 12:23:58 PM Amy Sebring:I didn't have to leave after all. 12:24:06 PM Amy Sebring:We would like to take a moment here to review how we will handle the Q&A so that we have an orderly session. 12:24:18 PM Amy Sebring:We ask that you indicate that you have a question by typing just a question mark (?). 12:24:24 PM Amy Sebring:Then you can prepare your question, but PLEASE HOLD (don't hit end or send) your question until you are recognized. 12:24:34 PM Amy Sebring:If we run out of time, you will have a chance to ask afterward in the follow up session in the Virtual Forum. 12:24:54 PM Amy Sebring:I am sure we are going to have a question about system requirements Dimitri... 12:24:59 PM Dimitri Rotow:OK. 12:25:04 PM Amy Sebring:would you like to summarize a recommended system? 12:25:28 PM Dimitri Rotow:Just about any 150Mhz Pentium or Pentium II running NT or 95... 12:25:51 PM Dimitri Rotow:will do. We recommend 64Mb of RAM because RAM is cheap. The more the merier, and the same with hard disk. 12:26:08 PM Amy Sebring:Ok, do we have some questions from our audience ready? 12:26:37 PM Isabel McCurdy:? 12:26:44 PM Amy Sebring:Ok, Isabel. 12:26:59 PM Isabel McCurdy:Does this have international applications? 12:27:07 PM Dimitri Rotow:Yes.... 12:27:17 PM Dimitri Rotow:About 40% of our market is international... 12:27:29 PM Dimitri Rotow:this is supported by our provision of the Digital Chart of the World, for free. 12:27:57 PM Amy Sebring:Can you drop any customer names Dimitri? 12:28:07 PM Dimitri Rotow:Sure... 12:28:17 PM Dimitri Rotow:Just about all branches of government.... 12:28:26 PM Dimitri Rotow:Something like 100 universities.... 12:29:01 PM Dimitri Rotow:USGS in particular is becoming a big Manifold user, as are the Los Alamos, Livermore *and* Russian nuclear weapons labs (a first, I think). 12:29:27 PM Amy Sebring:What kind of response are you getting from users? 12:29:43 PM Dimitri Rotow:The first is that people are blown away by what they get... 12:30:09 PM Dimitri Rotow:Even after perusing the web site, people do not realize how "big" Manifold is.... 12:30:10 PM Amy Sebring:In particular, do they find this easy to learn quickly? 12:30:34 PM Dimitri Rotow:For simple things, yes. For more complex things, it takes more time... 12:30:48 PM Dimitri Rotow:Some of the concepts in Manifold are there to support serious expert use in fairly specialized areas... 12:31:06 PM Dimitri Rotow:So, for example, if you are not a networking analyst you won't know what some of those solvers are for..... 12:31:28 PM Dimitri Rotow:but then again, they're inside a menu so if you don't need them they won't interfere with your other work. 12:31:35 PM Ava Moore:? 12:31:42 PM Amy Sebring:Yes Avagene. 12:31:49 PM Ava Moore:Does the software include an online tutorial? 12:31:56 PM Dimitri Rotow:Yes... 12:32:13 PM Dimitri Rotow:the user manual is an online document that includes 286 topics, including... 12:32:32 PM Dimitri Rotow:a series of user examples. We are also providing case studies on line at the web site. 12:33:13 PM Amy Sebring:Dimitri, you mentioned the World Map, any other data that comes with it? 12:33:27 PM Dimitri Rotow:Yes,... I should clarify that.... 12:33:41 PM Dimitri Rotow:the distribution CD includes 625 MB of free maps and data... 12:33:56 PM Dimitri Rotow:these include the complete US GNIS, the natonal transportation atlas database... 12:34:15 PM Dimitri Rotow:(which includes the US highway system, waterways, airways, etc, etc), a complete .. 12:34:31 PM Dimitri Rotow:collection of USGS base maps, census Zip code extractions and much more..... 12:34:44 PM Dimitri Rotow:However, it is North American data, because this is where all the free government data is located.... 12:34:58 PM Dimitri Rotow:the Digital Chart of the World is the sole example of a detailed... 12:35:10 PM Dimitri Rotow:data set that covers the entire world. You can download it for free from our ... 12:35:27 PM Dimitri Rotow:FTP site in Manifold format. Other people sell this same public domain map/data set for about $1500.... 12:35:45 PM Dimitri Rotow:so it is a big deal for our international customers. We'll also be publishing the successor to DCW, .... 12:36:00 PM Dimitri Rotow:which is called "VMAP0" and has numerous corrections and additions...... 12:36:18 PM Dimitri Rotow:the FTP sites include over 30,000 megabytes of free data, including the 14 CD USGS map set of the ... 12:36:35 PM Dimitri Rotow:US in 1:100K scale, census bureau extractions, demographic data and more. 12:36:53 PM Amy Sebring:Lots o' stuff! 12:36:55 PM Dimitri Rotow:We like free data! 12:37:06 PM Amy Sebring:free=good 12:37:12 PM Dimitri Rotow:Yes.... 12:37:18 PM Amy Sebring:Any more questions from our audience? 12:37:41 PM Amy Sebring:Just jump in anytime with your question mark. 12:38:01 PM Amy Sebring:Can you explain a little more about the TCP/IP capability? 12:38:16 PM Dimitri Rotow:Sure., this is not really a GIS thing, although... 12:38:32 PM Dimitri Rotow:it is becoming more popular with GIS users. Everyone depends on networks these days.. 12:38:45 PM Dimitri Rotow:so it is becoming very common to want to map networks. There are two ways of doing this.... 12:39:01 PM Dimitri Rotow:one is to show the routing of network cables in a facilities diagram or big map... 12:39:18 PM Dimitri Rotow:and the other is to show the logical structure of the netowrk in terms of connectivity (or lack thereof).... 12:39:38 PM Dimitri Rotow:We do both. In particular, Manifold can actually reach out into your network and using the IP addresss and other... 12:39:53 PM Dimitri Rotow:TCP/IP information, draw a map of the network. A related topic.... 12:40:13 PM Dimitri Rotow:is the use of SNMP (so called "simple" network management protocol), which enables Manifold to reach out and collect... 12:40:41 PM Dimitri Rotow:hundreds of data attributes for objects on your network. You can find out which systems are running NT, which are on UNIX, how routers are set up, and much more.... 12:41:03 PM Dimitri Rotow:When this information is integrated with a facilities map or wide area map, you can get a better handle on the network... 12:41:26 PM Dimitri Rotow:This I think will be critical in future emergency situations, like when a flood might cut a major communications linnk,etc. 12:41:51 PM Amy Sebring:Dimitri, I understand from the website you will be adding GPS capability also? 12:42:01 PM Dimitri Rotow:Yes. Everyone wants GPS.... 12:42:05 PM Amy Sebring:GPS=Global Positioning System (I think) 12:42:23 PM Dimitri Rotow:Right. The new generation of low cost G{PS... 12:42:43 PM Dimitri Rotow:receivers make it possible to ride around with a hand-held, $200 GPS, a laptop, and Manifold... 12:43:01 PM Dimitri Rotow:and inventory assets like bridges, track the courses of streams, and much more.... 12:43:20 PM Dimitri Rotow:Manifold includes a "solver package" capability that lets you load new solvers nto the system... 12:43:34 PM Dimitri Rotow:we are providing a number of new solvers, including the GPS solver, for free download.... 12:43:57 PM Dimitri Rotow:The GPS module allows you to download "batch" information from the GPS (like stored waypoints), or to work with the GPS... 12:44:14 PM Dimitri Rotow:interactively, such as hitting a button and getting a position or altitude... We've also tossed in ... 12:44:30 PM Dimitri Rotow:some cool additions. For example, Manifold's GPS unit is unique in that we allow you to .. 12:44:48 PM Dimitri Rotow:hit a button and synchronize your PC's clock to the GPS cloc.k.... This is ... 12:45:18 PM Dimitri Rotow:special because GPS clocksare atomic clocks accurate to millionths of a second. So, why not get the same accuracy when setting your PCs time? 12:45:36 PM Dimitri Rotow:t's a small thing, but cool. 12:46:12 PM Amy Sebring:Dimitri, let's wrap up by having you tell us a little about the company, and how this all evolved. 12:46:24 PM Dimitri Rotow:OK. we're privately held... 12:46:44 PM Dimitri Rotow:The company originated in a programming/math team that did the math work for the joint Intel/DoD ... 12:47:06 PM Dimitri Rotow:massively parallel super computer. We later decided to bring advanced math capability to PCs by encapsulating the math ... 12:47:32 PM Dimitri Rotow:inside "solvers." Manifold evolved from a series of "visual workbench" tools we created that enabled people to apply those "big" math solvers ... 12:47:48 PM Dimitri Rotow:to real world tasks using a visual interface. We like GIS because the data sets in GIS are very large... 12:48:08 PM Dimitri Rotow:for example, Manifold can image the paved road network of the entire world.... 12:48:24 PM Dimitri Rotow:that's about 200 megabytes, so make sure you have plenty of ram in your pc... 12:48:38 PM Dimitri Rotow:Anyway, such tasks are much larger than many network or data mining tasks..... 12:48:59 PM Dimitri Rotow:The important point is that we did not start with a "drawing" program and bolt on analysis... 12:49:15 PM Dimitri Rotow:we started with the analysis and database and visualization all at the same time.... 12:49:36 PM Dimitri Rotow:From a cultural perspective, we are PC renegades. The money behind Manifold is the money we made... 12:49:57 PM Dimitri Rotow:in the late 80's bringing the PC revolution into the mass market. that was a good time, when we helped ... 12:50:10 PM Dimitri Rotow:drive the cost of serious computing from $100,000 a minicomputer to ... 12:50:32 PM Dimitri Rotow:$2000 for a desktop Pentium II with six gigs of hard disk. Heck, you couldn't even buy ... 12:50:47 PM Dimitri Rotow:six gigs of hard disk in the 80's on a minicomputer!...I don't mean to obsess... 12:51:04 PM Dimitri Rotow:about price, but it is a factor that drives real world utilization. ....Now, we'd like to bring that ... 12:51:28 PM Dimitri Rotow:same PC philosophy and culture into the GIS market, which we feel is more like the minicomputer market of the 70's and 80s..time for a change! 12:51:33 PM Dimitri Rotow:(end spam) 12:51:34 PM Amy Sebring:Thank you very much Dimitri. With this kind of price, there should not be anyone who cannot afford GIS tools. 12:51:52 PM Amy Sebring:Let's wrap up with the site address http://www.manifold.net 12:52:04 PM Dimitri Rotow:Thanks for inviting me, and thanks for listening. 12:52:16 PM Amy Sebring:And now, if Avagene would like to tell us about our upcoming events? 12:52:19 PM Ava Moore:Thank you, Amy. Tomorrow night, Thursday 8 PM EDT, we will be online in Virtual Forum for the 'Mutual Aid' session. Bring any topic or issue to that session for informal discussion. ... 12:53:02 PM Ava Moore:Next Tuesday Sept 1, 1 PM EDT... 12:53:10 PM Ava Moore:Yes, it is September! ... 12:53:30 PM Ava Moore:Heidi Kramer will speak about people with disabilities and how this relates to emergency management. ... 12:53:46 PM Ava Moore:Next Weds, Sept 2, 12:00 Noon EDT, we will feature an author in the Virtual Library. ... 12:54:07 PM Ava Moore:At the moment ... 12:54:20 PM Ava Moore:there are 2 people considering doing the presentation for us. I will announce the name and title of the paper as soon as one author is confirmed. ... 12:54:34 PM Ava Moore:Will be announced over the weekend. Amy, back to you. 12:54:38 PM Amy Sebring:Thank you audience, and since our time is up, we will close down the Tech Arena for today, but we will be in the Virtual Forum room for a few minutes longer, and you are welcome to join us there for open discussion. Thank you for your cooperation.