I agree with Forest on the above statements for the most part. I use Manifold, QGIS, Mapinfo, ArcGIS, Global Mapper, and anything else that gets the job done for me. Regularly. I am somewhat software agnostic. A tool is a tool. Some are better than others for certain tasks, and some are completely useless for certain tasks. QGIS makes printing, or presenting a great map very easy. Customization is ridiculously easy for points, lines, and areas. You can create input forms for data capture that will symbolize the feature based upon your input. You have your choice of 32, or 64 bit software, although everyone has it now, so that is no big concern, if you are simply concerned with bit capability. It is also easy to train people to use it. The price is right. For the price of six Manifold Universal licenses, I am able to buy six semi-rugged tablets PC's along with Bluetooth GPS/GLONASS antennas, install QGIS on each, and have six field ready navigation/mapping systems in use. Something that you cannot do in QGIS which you can in Manifold, and Mapinfo quite is easily is, create a table, manually enter coordinates, create a drawing from that table. That is a major frustration at times with QGIS. There is an active, friendly community of QGIS users, and it seems to be on a very steady development path. Significant improvements, and functionality seem to be released with each update, which occurs every three months. I honestly believe that anyone working in the Geospatial field is doing themselves a great disservice by not investigating QGIS. I have also felt the same way with regards to Manifold, although my enthusiasm has subsided somewhat. For heavy lifting, surface analysis, tabular work, creating new drawings, images and so on, Manifold is far superior in power, and function to any of the software packages I mentioned above. I can still make great maps, and program like mad in Mapinfo/Mapbasic. I can do the same in QGIS and make add-ins in Python I can create data that will please most of my clients in ArcGIS, and have some Python routines that work. I can transform data in Global Mapper better than any of the above, and the Lidar extension is worth every penny. I can get very difficult tasks done in Manifold. Most of these I do manually. I only have a few scripts for Manifold, and all of them only work in 32 bit Manifold. The spatial SQL capabilities in Manifold are amazing, and then you have people here that create jaw dropping queries, and are incredibly helpful. It depends on your budget, and what tasks you will be performing regularly as to the right decision with regards to software. Manifold is not a wrong choice by any means. My Highest Regards, Jon
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