Some lively discussion about Manifold.net was spawned recently over at Spatially Adjusted (nice job throwing the bait out there and getting this going James!) The discussion made me think about a paper that was published a couple of years ago comparing how to accomplish tasks using Manifold.net (5) as compared to the same task done using ArcGIS. Would it be amazing to see such a publication that compares several applications??? Obviously a HUGE task but maybe there’s a few keeners out there that have a few hundred hours to killl.. if so you’d have a best-seller on your hands! Here’s some details about the publication I reference… “How do I do that in ArcGIS/Manifold” – Edited by Arthur Lembo Jr. Cornell university, the document steps through 50 “classic” GIS tasks and compares the process in Manifold side-by-side with the same process in ArcGIS… this document is a must read for anyone shopping for a low-cost GIS solution – this comes from a Spotlight feature at GU – see http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/3006/ – oh, and those of you who haven’t already done so, the saga continues still over at Spatially Adjusted in this very heated discussion thread… ouch!!