[Manifold-l] Advance access to new update - a technology preview

[Simon Greener (SpatialDB Advisor)]

Dimitri et al,

The download worked fine for me when I used Internet Explorer. But when I  
used
my standard web browser - Opera - it fails (multiple times). Opera is  
normally
very, very reliable so I was surprised. Oh well, IE worked and I have  
installed
the preview: now over to testing.

regards
S
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:35:42 +0100, Dimitri Rotow <dar at manifold.net> wrote:

> I'm pleased to announce that manifold.net is making available to the  
> forum
> and list Manifold communities in advance of general distribution the new
> update to 7x.  Rather than calling it an "open beta," since "beta"  
> connotes
> a possibly long process, we are calling this a "technology preview" or  
> just
> "preview."
>
> The new update may be immediately downloaded in 32 bit and 64 bit  
> versions.
> The URLs are:
>
>  http://www.manifold.net/updates/manifold-7.1.2.408.zip
>  http://www.manifold.net/updates/manifold-7.1.2.408-x64.zip
>
> We have not advertised the uploaded bits on the updates page nor in the
> update matrix. The autoupdate logic for 7x does not see the update and  
> will
> stay that way until we publish a real, non-preliminary update.
>
> The main reason for the update is the improved performance of several key
> geometry algorithms: line normalize, area normalize, area union and area
> clips (both clip intersect and clip subtract). In the final version of  
> the
> update, we will also improve the performance of line clips and area /  
> line
> splits. The performance improvements affect transforms as well as query  
> and
> script functions. Although the numbers will obviously vary depending on  
> the
> data at hand, we expect a typical performance improvement to be 10 to 40
> times faster, that is, we expect the new code to be 10 to 40 times faster
> than the old code, on average. There are no trade-offs related to  
> accuracy
> or maximum capacity.
>
> The new code respects ESRI's rules for topological cleanness, and so  
> complex
> area objects exported to SHP files or to ESRI's databases in GeomSHP  
> format
> should no longer require normalization in order to be useful in certain  
> ESRI
> products.
>
> In addition to improving the performance of geometry algorithms, we have
> also fixed some bugs accumulated from 7.1.1 (the most annoying ones). We
> have not yet fixed all of them though, since this is just a preview and  
> not
> the published update.
>
> We are planning to issue the final version of the update in about 4  
> weeks.
> Until that time, we invite everyone interested in the performance of
> geometry algorithms to try the update and report back the results,  
> whether
> positive or negative. The main purpose is to weed out possible bugs by
> exposing the preview to a lot of "real world" data.
>
> Suggestions are welcome too, as usual. We will likely be unable to keep  
> up
> with the feedback for the first 1 or 2 weeks due to the volume, but we  
> can
> guarantee that we will act on every single report prior to issuing the  
> final
> version of the update.
>
> Install this update like any other: uninstall the previous installation  
> of
> Manifold and then install the update.  If desired, you can go back to the
> previous release: uninstall this update and then install the previous
> installation of Manifold.  In both cases, the activation status of  
> Manifold
> on your machine will be respected.
>
> As is the case with any "technology preview" or beta, don't trust
> irreplaceable data to this update without first making a backup copy. :-)
>
> One more thing: special thanks go out to Art Lembo for tirelessly  
> providing
> lots of data sets and situations that encouraged bringing the faster
> geometry algorithms forward into a 7x update from their originally  
> planned
> deployement in future releases.  Many folks provided great data and
> suggestions for which we are grateful, but Art's contributions have
> consistently been above and beyond the call of duty and deserve special
> credit. All of us in the Manifold community owe Art our thanks!
>
> Enjoy!
>
> Dimitri
>
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> Manifold-l at lists.directionsmag.com
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Simon Greener
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Oracle Spatial, MYSQL, PostGIS and Manifold enthusiast
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