Parallel CPU Power

Use All of your Computer - Not just 1/16th

Eight computers are better than one

Only Manifold is Fully CPU Parallel

Manifold® Release 9 is the only desktop GIS, ETL, and Data Science tool - at any price - that automatically uses all threads in your computer to run fully, automatically CPU parallel, with automatic launch of GPU parallelism as well. Don't settle for partial parallelism that runs 50 times slower than genuine, full parallelism. Insist on the real thing. For example, ESRI partial parallelism is so much slower than Manifold's full parallelism that ESRI can take 60 hours to do what Manifold does in only 20 minutes. Amazing!

"To process even one modest piece of down sampled LiDAR within my region in ArcMap took ~60 hours to produce the 30 inundation layers. As I mentioned previously, this may then require fixing and a re-run of the process. The same process on the same DEM using Manifold 9's distance toolset takes around 40 seconds per layer or 20 minutes for the 30 intervals." - Government user, computing flood levels (emphasis added)

See the difference in the Faster than ESRI collection of videos, where $145 full Manifold parallelism does in seconds what takes $5000 ESRI partial parallelism many minutes and non-parallel QGIS hours. See the Faster ESRI Workflow page to learn how to use Manifold to speed up your ESRI workflow.

Doing data science or other serious work with spatial data? See the SQL: Manifold vs. Arc page for why Manifold's superb spatial SQL is a better choice than ESRI's subset of SQL. Manifold's spatial SQL is fully CPU parallel. ESRI's partial SQL is not.

Benefits

The world's most powerful, fastest GIS now also delivers the lowest cost of ownership: only $145, fully paid. Buy now and get these outstanding benefits:

  • Massively Faster Speed - Get done in seconds what takes minutes without parallel CPU and parallel GPU. Running all cores and all threads in your computer is way faster than running only one core and one thread, and typically 20 to 50 times faster than ESRI partial parallelism. When GPU parallelism fits a task, Manifold can often run 200 times faster than ESRI. See the videos.
  • Zero User Effort - Manifold automatically uses all cores and all threads with no need for users to do anything different. Life doesn't get any easier than zero effort.
  • Works Everywhere - Everything in Manifold is parallel, including geoprocessing, SQL, computation, rendering and everything else. You don't need to think about it: it works automatically, giving instant UI response and way faster action everywhere.
  • Zero Cost - You've already paid for a processor that can run 8, 16, 24, 32 or more threads. It costs you zero to use all of those threads instead of just one thread.
  • Never Waste Hardware - Manifold automatically supports all multicore CPUs for parallel speed, whether they are 128-thread Threadrippers or older 4 core processors that can run only eight threads. Even older computers can run parallel with amazing speed that's usually way faster than the latest and greatest CPUs running single core.
  • Effortless Upgrades - Manifold automatically supports the latest CPUs, including upgrading a CPU or plugging in another CPU in a multi-socket motherboard. Just plug it in and it works.
  • Never Fear Crashes - Parallel code has to be written to a higher standard or it doesn't work at all. Manifold never crashes. Run 10 years, all day, every day, on the toughest, most complicated jobs and never expect to see a crash. Invest quality time into a project with no fear a crash will force you to redo anything.
  • Enjoy Being Smart - In a world of inexpensive, 24 and 32 thread Ryzen CPUs you know in your heart it is not smart to run 1980's style single-threaded software, or primitive, partially-parallel software that can run only a few threads. Beyond stupid is spending thousands extra on an overpriced "extreme" CPU so old-fashioned software can run slightly faster on one thread. Don't be that guy. Enjoy the excitement and deep gratification you get with spectacular new advances in hardware for speed ten or twenty times faster at zero extra cost.
  • Better Data Science - More advanced DBMS and automatically CPU and GPU parallelized SQL for better data science.
  • Save Money on Free Software - The biggest cost of doing GIS, ETL, or Data Science is the cost of your time, not low cost licenses. Nothing is as expensive as "free" software that costs you minutes or hours to do what Manifold does in seconds, or that takes days of playing software developer to do what happens instantly in Manifold with a point and click.
  • Save Money on ESRI Software - ESRI users have to spend thousands to get Spatial Analyst, but Manifold equivalents to Spatial Analyst typically run ten to seventy times faster for a fraction of the price, only $145. That's because ESRI only has limited, partial parallelization that's way slower and harder to use than Manifold's easy, automatic, state-of-the-art, total parallelization. Every Spatial Analyst license you can replace with Manifold saves you thousands.
  • No Paywalls - Automatic CPU parallelism is built into every Manifold license. You don't have to buy anything extra, install any options, or deal with annoying "you're not licensed for this" messages when you want a big geoprocessing job to run fast. All features are built into every Manifold license. For only $145 you get it all.

Multi Core + Multi CPU

Manifold Release 9 is built upon Manifold's massively parallel Radian® spatial database platform, by far the world's fastest and most powerful, parallel spatial data engineering engine.

Decades ago in the 1990's all desktop computers had only one processor in their CPU chip. Today's computers have many processors in their CPU chip. Some desktops even have multiple CPUs with many processors in each. That gives your modern computer the power of many old-fashioned, single-processor computers, but only if you run modern, multicore parallel software like Manifold.

Non-parallel software still runs all computers as if they were old-fashioned 1990's computers with only one core per task. No matter how modern your computer, non-parallel software imposes 1990's limits on you. Your computer could have 20 processors in the CPU chip but non-Manifold software will use only one of those cores per task - just as if your computer was a 1990's computer.

Manifold uses all cores in your computer for maximum power and maximum speed. The more cores you have, the bigger the gain. Even with only four cores and eight threads, Manifold is way more powerful than single core software. With twelve or sixteen cores, and 24 or 32 threads, nothing else comes close.

Open 110 Gigabyte Images See Manifold technology in action Watch the Open 110GB of Images YouTube video showing how Manifold Viewer opens 110 gigabytes of giant images instantly. Pan and zoom with images georeferenced to the world. Try it yourself with Manifold Viewer.

The graphs below show actual Manifold performance in Windows 10 Resource Monitor using an inexpensive, 12-core / 24-thread, AMD Ryzen 9 3900X processor, with and without parallel processing of an image transform. Manifold always uses all cores for a big process, but other software can't do that. It might hop around from core to core, but just like the 1990's it never uses more than one core.

Manifold: Full Power

Manifold is Parallel

Others: 1/20th Power

Old-style software is not Parallel

What do you call software that only uses 1/20th of your computer's processing power? If you've just spent a few thousand dollars for your computer you might call it some angry names. We call it non-Manifold software because only Manifold uses all of your computer all of the time to do your work faster and easier. Non-Manifold software that uses just one thread out of 24 is wasting over 95% of the computing power of your CPU.

Do in 1/10th Second what takes others 30 minutes. See Manifold technology in action Watch the Gulf Bathymetry YouTube video of Manifold Viewer opening a project file in 1/10th second that the US Government website providing the data warned will take ESRI software 30 minutes to open in the equivalent ESRI native format. That's thousands of times faster for Manifold. Viewer effortlessly hill shades and styles and re-projects on the fly 7.5 GB of ultra-high resolution bathymetry data for the Gulf of Mexico. Re-projection can take hours in other packages but Viewer and Manifold do it on the fly, instantly.

Compare CPU Performance

Compare Manifold's effectiveness to other software running right out of the box, with no special software engineering efforts required, just routine, point-and-click, always on, fully automated use on the desktop by normal people with average DBMS and GIS skills:

Inexpensive Desktop - 6 Cores / 12 Threads (AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, Intel Core i7-8086K )

Package GPGPU Threads Threads Used % Used % Wasted
Not Parallel No 12 1 8.3% 91.6%
Manifold Yes 12 12 100% 0%

Multicore hardware is now very affordable: A $130 AMD Ryzen 5 1600X provides six CPU cores that can launch 12 threads. Even better, the $130 AMD chip with twelve threads running Manifold will absolutely crush a $1600 Intel Core i9-9960X CPU running non-parallel software. You get all that with Manifold even without using a GPU.

Professional Desktop - 16 Cores / 32 Threads (AMD Ryzen 9 3950X, Intel Core i9-9960X)

Package GPGPU Threads Threads Used % Used % Wasted
Not Parallel No 32 1 3.1% 96.9%
Manifold Yes 32 32 100% 0%

Professional desktop machines using cutting edge multicore processors may cost a bit more but are still affordable: a 24 hypercore AMD Ryzen 9 3900x is only $400. Running Manifold on 24 inexpensive hypercores will easily outperform far more expensive systems running non-parallel software. Add a $150 GPU and you often can run hundreds of times faster than others.

Use All Of Your System's Power...

Does it make sense to spend a lot of money on a computer and then throw away most of what you bought?

  • One Cylinder out of Eight? - Would you buy an automobile with an eight cylinder engine and then fill it with fuel that allowed only one cylinder to work while seven cylinders did nothing?
  • One Hour a Day? - Would you hire somebody that worked only one hour out of an eight-hour day but got paid for all eight hours?
  • Why do that with software? If you wouldn't do that to your car, and if you wouldn't hire such a lazy worker, why do that to your computer? If your computer has eight CPU cores, why use software that allows only one core to run a process while seven cores stay idle?

... Not Just a Little

Software that can run only one core out of eight cores in your system wastes seven eighths of your system - almost all the power in your system. Have you wondered why non-Manifold packages are so slow with demanding jobs? One reason is they fail to use most of the computing power of your system.

The tables above show how the ratio of effective use to wasted power is even worse with newer computers. The more modern your processor the more wasteful non-Manifold software will be. If you are running a modern processor like an Intel Core i7-6950X you have twenty hypercores. Manifold uses all 20 hypercores. Automatically. Non-parallel software will use only one hypercore and will waste 95% of the computer's power. Only Manifold automatically uses all of the computer.

Even Faster: Multiple CPUs

If your system has multiple CPUs Manifold will use all of the cores in every CPU. Professional users in GIS and spatial data engineering can deploy desktop systems with two CPU sockets. Using a 16 or 20 hypercore Intel Core i7 CPU in each of those two sockets will provide a total of 32 or 40 hypercores on the desktop. Manifold will use them all for astonishing power.

Prices are plummeting on many-core CPUs. With 16 hypercore AMD Ryzen CPUs appearing in the $300 range a 32 core system using two such chips on the motherboard becomes affordable for most professional users. $600 for 32 cores is way cheaper than $2200 or $3200. If you run Manifold you can enjoy blistering performance at absurdly low cost.

Parallel Processing - The Real Thing

Superior spatial data engineering requires parallel power, and real parallelism cannot be glued on to non-parallel code. It has to be built in from the ground up.

Manifold was created from the ground up as an always-on, fundamentally parallel system, with parallel data management systems feeding massively parallel computation. The Radian database engine is a parallel engine and Radian SQL automatically runs parallel by default. Every bit of Manifold was designed and coded for fully parallel work, including all infrastructure, hundreds of functions exposed for users and thousands of functions utilized internally. Zero weak links.

"Radian Studio did in two hours what Manifold 8 has yet to do in 85 hours!" - User post on beta forum, regarding a UNION of 100 tables involving all real estate parcels in a major US State, a very big job.

All of Manifold is a true multicore, parallel processing system. Manifold will automatically utilize multiple processors and multiple processor cores by parallelizing a task into multiple threads for execution on all of the cores in your system. Given hyperthreading plus multi-core CPUs, even inexpensive desktops will have 8, 16, 32 or even more CPU cores available. Manifold will use them all, as the Resource Monitor graphs show above.

In addition to parallel processing using multiple CPU cores Manifold also automatically launches massively parallel multiprocessing utilizing GPUs, potentially launching tasks on thousands of GPU cores at once for true supercomputer computational performance, far beyond what can be achieved with multicore CPU alone and often hundreds of times faster than other software. See the GPU Page for more.

Manifold automatically parallelizes and dispatches hundreds of functions to GPGPU, with automatic fallback to parallelized tasks dispatched to multiple CPU cores if a GPU is not available. It's all automatic and totally transparent with zero user effort required to use. Just do what you do and Manifold handles all the parallel wizardry.

No Parallel Coding Required

You don't need to learn any parallel programming. Manifold does it all for you with automatic parallelization. Write the same SQL you already know and Manifold automatically parallelizes it for execution. Use Manifold functions in your scripts (Manifold supports ten scripting languages) and those run parallel as well. Point and click with hundreds of Manifold templates without any programming at all and those all run parallel too. Click open immense displays and Manifold parallelizes the rendering, parallelizes re-projections on the fly and everything else. Manifold runs parallel on however many CPU cores you have. Automatically. No parallel code required.

Triangulate 5 Million Points instantly. See Manifold in action Watch the Triangulate 5 Million Points YouTube video of Manifold previewing in one second a triangulation of over five million points, and then writing out the triangulation as a new drawing with over ten million areas in under three minutes. Other GIS software takes from well over an hour for that to even more than a day. Download the data set in shapefile format and try it in any other GIS. Nothing else comes close to one second.

Cores, Hypercores and Threads

Cores and hypercores mean almost the same thing: both refer to using multiple physical or logical processors on the same silicon chip to give the power of multiple computers within one chip. Cores usually means extra silicon circuitry, multiple copies of a processing unit. Hypercores is an Intel word for hyperthreading that gives a similar effect by leveraging idle circuitry to provide the horsepower of extra processors. 20 hypercores are not as powerful as 20 physical cores, but they can be close enough to count them the same. Windows counts them the same when it reports the number of CPUs in your system. Some chip vendors prefers the word threads to avoid using Intel's proprietary word. Microsoft's Task Manager uses the term logical processors to refer to what everbody else calls threads or hypercores. No worries - Whether you call them hypercores, threads, or logical processors, Manifold can use them all for true manycore parallelism.

When "Multi Core" Means "One Core"

Manifold runs parallel on all cores

Do not be confused by software that claims to be "multithreaded" or "multicore" but uses only one core for a task. Much software advertised as "multithreaded" is not parallel. It does not run a task in parallel on many threads like Manifold. Instead, it only uses one thread for that task.

A well-known GIS package, for example, that is not parallel nonetheless uses "multithreaded" to describe itself in sales pitches. What they mean by "multithreaded" is the package can run one geoprocessing task in background in a single thread, while the interactive user interface in foreground does not freeze up. Any additional tasks must wait for the first thread to finish. Only then the next task can run, but again only in a single thread. In that package big tasks run only in a single thread.

That is not multithreaded parallel processing like Manifold. If you have sixteen cores that can run 32 threads, that well-known "multithreaded" software will waste thirty one threads, painfully grinding through the geoprocessing task using only one thread. Ouch! Manifold uses all thirty two threads together at the same time, a huge difference.

Image above: Manifold computing Path Distance in 9 seconds, running 48 threads with 100% utilization (the vertical line at the right edge of each box) on a 24 core AMD Threadripper. Spatial Analyst on the same machine runs Path Distance with only nine instances at less than 30% utilization, taking 12 minutes. Add Manifold to your ESRI toolset for faster geoprocessing.


Parallel vs. Really Parallel

In recent years ESRI has re-written many of the geoprocessing tools to run multi-threaded. How fast are they compared to Manifold parallelism? In most cases, the ESRI tools will run anywhere from ten times to 70 times slower, usually taking a minute or two to accomplish what the comparable Manifold tool does in two to five seconds. In the illustration above, ESRI's Path Distance tool running in ArcMap takes twelve minutes to accomplish what Manifold does in 9 seconds.

Re-writing algorithms to launch multiple threads is not enough: the parallelization also has to be effective parallelization, or multiple threads can interfere with each other. In ESRI's case, when the ESRI tool is allowed to use however many threads it wants, most Spatial Analyst tools will launch only 4 or 9 threads even when running on a machine that allows 48 threads. In contrast Manifold will launch all 48 threads using far more effective parallelization. ESRI tools have to deal with non-parallel bottlenecks from the main application, while Manifold runs automatically parallel from start to finish, from data access to final rendering. The result is far faster Manifold performance, whether it is just a few threads or many threads.


Videos

Seeing is believing: See how advanced Manifold parallelism is faster than ESRI partial parallelism.

Manifold vs Arc - Contour Lines - 11 seconds vs 20 minutes

See Manifold do in 11 seconds what takes ESRI's ArcGIS Pro over 20 minutes. Manifold creates contour lines in 11 seconds for a 26000 x 38000 terrain elevation raster, with ArcGIS Pro taking 20 minutes and 46 seconds for the same thing. Amazing! The video uses ArcGIS Pro because ArcMap crashed every time this data set was tried. The video also shows how Manifold will preview what it's about to do, so you can be sure the contour job is set up the way you want, avoiding any errors. It's quicker for ESRI users to export their data to Manifold, create contours in a few seconds, and then import back into ArcGIS Pro than it is to wait around for 20 minutes for Arc to do the job. New! - In addition to this video, check out the updated video showing use of the new Transform pane user interface, for even more convenient contours.

Download the montana_map.zip (3444148 KB) Manifold project file used in this video and try it out in the free Viewer on your own computer, to see how Manifold really is way faster than Arc + Spatial Analyst.

Have a taste for really slow Arc operations? Download the montana_grd.zip (5648826 KB) original .grd file imported into Arc in the video, as a 5.5 GB zip file that unzips into a 14+ GB .grd file. Download the file overnight, unzip, import into Arc and then confirm Arc really does take over 20 minutes to create contours that Manifold creates in a few seconds.


Manifold Viewer - Speed demo with 1280 GPU cores - 2 Minutes vs 5 Days

Watch the free Manifold Viewer run CPU parallel and GPU parallel with 8 CPU cores and 1280 GPU cores to absolutely crush a job, doing in 2 minutes what would take non-GPU-parallel software 5 days. The video shows Viewer instantly pop open a 4 GB project that contains a huge, multi-gigabyte terrain elevation surface for Crater Lake, Oregon. With a point and click - no parallel code required - we compute the mean curvature at each pixel of the surface using a 7x7 matrix in under two minutes. We combine that with the original surface for enhanced hill shaded effects to better see details. Using an 11x11 matrix takes just over two minutes, a huge computation that takes days in non-GPU-parallel GIS packages. For large, detailed screenshots, see the Eleven Views of Crater Lake examples in the Gallery page.


Manifold vs Arc - Fifty times Faster than Spatial Analyst

Compare Manifold workflow and speed creating streams (watershed lines) with ESRI ArcMap and Spatial Analyst doing the same task. ArcMap requires four operations calculating intermediate steps, taking a total of three minutes and 30 seconds to compute streams. Manifold does the same job in a single operation in a single click in under four seconds, over fifty times faster than Arc.


Manifold vs Arc - Watersheds Sixty Five times Faster than Arc

Compare performance omputing upstream watersheds for a few dozen locations. ArcMap requires three geoprocessing tool operations calculating intermediate steps, taking a minute and a half. Manifold does the same job in a single click in less than 1.4 seconds, over 65 times faster than ESRI. The larger and more complex the geoprocessing, the greater Manifold's speed advantage.


Manifold vs Arc - Seven Seconds vs Four Minutes

Compare the speed of calculating basins (sinks) in a terrain elevation raster. Manifold takes only a single click and seven seconds to do what requires three geoprocessing operations and four minutes in ESRI, not counting the time to setup and launch three operations. The ESRI software featured in the video costs $5250.


Manifold vs Arc - 100x Faster on an Affordable Desktop

Watch Manifold do in 0.9 seconds what takes ArcMap plus Spatial Analyst over a minute and a half, over 100 times faster. Some comments on previous comparisons stated Manifold was so super fast compared to ESRI because tests were run on a high-end, Threadripper machine that could run 48 threads. This video shows Manifold is faster even with fewer cores on an affordable desktop system.


Manifold vs Arc - Costs and Paths - 9 seconds vs 12 minutes

An ambitious video comparing Cost Back Link, Cost Distance, Cost Allocation, and Path Distance with Vertical Factor, between ESRI and Manifold. In the first three tools, Manifold takes only three or four seconds to produce what requires two minutes in ESRI. Manifold takes less than 9 seconds for the Path Distance computation, while ESRI takes over twelve minutes. It is far quicker to export data to Manifold, do the job in seconds, and then import it back into Arc, than it is to wait for long jobs in Arc.


Manifold vs Arc - Paths around Barriers - 7 seconds vs 8 minutes

Compare Release 9 to ESRI using Cost Back Link, Cost Distance, and Path Direction using Vertical Factor. Manifold can do in 3 seconds what takes Arc 25 seconds, with Path Distance taking 7 seconds in Manifold but 8 minutes in Spatial Analyst, 70 times faster for Manifold.


Manifold vs Arc - Euclidean Barriers - 7 seconds vs 1 minute

Calculating Euclidean Distances around barriers is a new ESRI feature. Manifold's fully parallelized equivalent tool runs significantly faster, typically taking 7 seconds for what requires a full minute with ESRI. The video compares Euclidean Allocation, Euclidean Distance, and Euclidean Back Direction, with all calculations working around barriers.


Speed Demo - Open 110 GB of Images Instantly

Manifold Release 9 can handle enormous amounts of data on a desktop. This demonstration shows Manifold opening 110 GB of images together in the same map, showing several world cities in high resolution imagery. The demo uses layers from Bing and Google to show how Manifold can combine images from different sources to enhance comprehension. Works with the free Viewer, too!    (Version 2 video)


Experience Manifold Power in a Free Tool

Manifold Viewer is completely free - no need to register, no ads, no upsell, no soliciting donations - it's really free!

Manifold Viewer is the free, read-only version of Manifold Release 9. Although Viewer cannot write projects or save edited data back out to the original data sources, Viewer provides phenomenal capability to view and to analyze almost all possible different types of data in tables, vector geometry, raster data, drawings, maps and images from thousands of different sources. Viewer includes full SQL as well, with hundreds of spatial and other analytic functions.

Viewer can also create and write spatial indices for entire folders full of LiDAR files, save connections to favorite files and data sources, and even edit and save localization files to translate Manifold into new languages.

Manifold Viewer delivers a truly useful, fully CPU-parallel and GPU-parallel Manifold tool that gives you parallel power and endless Manifold capabilities at zero cost. No need to register, no adware, no requests for donations and no selling: use Viewer however you like, including commercial purposes. You can even redistribute Viewer, all for free.

Viewer is a great way to share the amazing projects you create in Manifold for free. Publish multi-hundred GB projects created in Manifold that anybody can pop open in 1/10th second for free using Viewer. Publish projects that include automatic connections to your organization's databases and worldwide webserved data, and include pre-built, sophisticated analytics and dynamic reporting that users can launch with a point and click. Track pandemics, help first responders fight wildfires, or just help your organization do a better job.

See Manifold Viewer in Action.

Viewer's small download (only 50 MB), instant launch, and clean display - free of convoluted ribbons and endless, confusing buttons - make it perfect for unskilled users. With Viewer a million people can share the dazzling analytics and insights you create with an inexpensive Manifold license, all at fully parallel speed with no need to pay for costly, cloud-based, web processing. Like Manifold, Viewer never crashes, no matter how big or complicated the job.

See Viewer in action Watch the Manifold Viewer Introduction YouTube video.

"Mfd 9 is becoming a really good tool for sharing data with non-GIS folks. Clean interface makes it easy to teach others simple tasks. Easy to transfer a project. Easy to install software. Free viewer." - Forum post

Get Manifold Viewer


Buy Now via the Online Store

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Manifold

Terrain elevations from LiDAR point cloud data in Charles County, Maryland, from an ESRI ArcGIS REST web server operated by Salisbury University on behalf of Maryland government. Colored on the fly with an elevation palette and hill shaded by Manifold.

About Manifold

Manifold is a deep technology company creating advanced, parallel algorithms, next-level technology, and computation know-how that powers faster performance and smarter operations.

License Manifold® technology to power your company's products, or take advantage of Manifold's off-the-shelf commercial products. Jump decades ahead of your competition.

Manifold® brand products deliver quality, performance and value in the world's most sophisticated, most modern, and most powerful spatial products for GIS, ETL, DBMS, and Data Science. Total integration ensures ease of use, amazing speed, and unbeatably low cost of ownership. Tell your friends!

Questions? Contact sales@manifold.net. We're happy to help!