Radian Studio is out!

Well. Manifold has taken its sweet time with its release schedule.   I think that the last new product they published was in 2011, then went silent.  This last week they released Radian Studio after a year of beta testing. They call the product a spatial engineering tool not a GIS, and this is true.   The best way to understand the uses and purpose of the product is to read their FAQ.  

http://www.manifold.net/info/radian_faq.shtml

Some highlights of the product. If you do not want to read their FAQ

• Radian Studio is not a GIS but it has loads of GIS like capabilities that one is very welcome to explore using Scripting or Spatial SQL
• One is encouraged to place GIS data on an formal RDBMS but it is not required. 
• Radian studio uses an upgraded version of the Manifold .map file so your data is highly portable.
• Manifold 8 does not open the Radian .map files.
• It uses a 3rd generation parellelized DB engine.  This means that it is very fast and very efficient... if you know what you are doing.
• It has good but limited visualization tools.  Again, not a GIS.
• It serves as the technology platform for the next generation of GIS products.  Manifold 9 GIS

Bottom line.

If you want to be at the cutting edge of GIS software and are ready to learn RDBMS programming and tools by all means try Radian Studio.  If you use Manifold 8 GIS or any other GIS package, and are not planning to use an RDBMS as your GIS data storage strategy or do not need more speed. I suggest that you wait for Manifold 9.

My next post will be about how Radian Studio will change my life (for good or bad) 

​Cheers