A new update to Manifold System is now available.

The update contains improvements and fixes in the following areas:

Raster analysis: Multiple raster operations now use data structures optimized for heavily multi-core systems, for significantly better performance. There are transforms for Euclidean distances, path distances, slope path distances.

Projections: Reprojecting data support NADCON5 transforms, grid files for many standard NADCON5 transforms found in EPSG are included in GRIDS.DAT (a separate download).

Layouts: Layout frames are rendered with anti-aliasing and other advanced features of the Normal graphics engine. The new Insert Legend command creates a legend for one or more components, producing layout frames for legend entries that can be manipulated individually or as a group. Layout frames for legend entries can be further edited in the Record pane. There are new commands to rearrange multiple layout frames simultaneously for quick editing. Moving multiple layout frames with the cursor uses an improved version of snap that is much more intelligent. The New Layout dialog allows choosing paper format and orientation. The new Page Setup dialog allows switching to a different paper format / orientation and allows using a custom page size.

Extended and improved UI: The new Show / Delete / Rename Related commands in the Project pane context menus find components related to a specific component and operate on them together. The New Map dialog lists all potential layers instead of just the context component, and allows including a base layer from Google Maps / Bing Maps / a different image server from favorites. The Layers pane allows right-clicking a layer and making it active. Double-clicking text in an edit control selects the clicked word matching bracket pairs, etc, for easy editing. Clicking the active cell in a grid starts editing its value, similarly to Excel. The Replace dialog for text includes the Replace All button. The application window displays "*" next to the name of the opened MAP file if there are unsaved changes.

LiDAR: Spatial indexes for LAS / LAZ files perform better. A folder of LAS / LAZ files can be linked as a single LAS library data source with a drawing / table showing data from all files put together. The new Index LiDAR Files command in the Tools menu allows building indexes in advance for a folder of LAS files for use in a LAS library. There is an option to build indexes for multiple files in parallel. The LAS library detects LAS / LAZ files without an index, changes its icon in the Project pane and allows quickly building indexes for those files using the Project pane context menu.

Dataports: Exporting a GPKG file publishes coordinate system data in the WKT format for third-party applications. Reading a ECW file supports 16-bit values without reducing them to 8-bit, and supports multi-channel images. Reading a KML file can download referenced data from web resources, recursively with a custom recursion limit. There is a dataport for web KML for linking KML data from a web resource. Reading a NITF file supports reading embedded JPEG2000 data.

Localizations: The new Edit Localization Files command in the Tools menu allows creating or editing localization files. The Options dialog allows specifying the localization to use. There is an option to ignore all localization files and stick to the built-in English strings.

For detailed lists of changes, see documentation or threads for individual 9.0.170.x builds in the Cutting Edge forum area.

The update is available on the Product Downloads page.