Software Alternatives & Reviews

Manifold VS GRASS GIS

Compare Manifold VS GRASS GIS and see what are their differences

Manifold logo Manifold

Manifold GIS is a combination of mapping, CAD, DBMS and image processing.

GRASS GIS logo GRASS GIS

GRASS GIS is a free Geographic Information System (GIS) software used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, graphics/maps production, spatial modeling, and visualization.
  • Manifold Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19
  • GRASS GIS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-09-18

GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series processing and a Python API for rapid geospatial programming. GRASS GIS has been optimized for performance and large geospatial data analysis.

Manifold videos

Manifold Garden | Review in 3 Minutes

More videos:

  • Review - Manifold Garden is Infinitely Entertaining | Review
  • Review - Manifold Garden | Review

GRASS GIS videos

GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure

More videos:

  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorial 2 - Understanding GRASS GIS Data Structure
  • Tutorial - GRASS GIS Tutorials - Tutorial 1 - Installation - REVISED

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Manifold and GRASS GIS)
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Maps
21 21%
79% 79
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
Mapping And GIS
0 0%
100% 100

Questions and Answers

As answered by people managing Manifold and GRASS GIS.

How would you describe your primary audience?

GRASS GIS's answer:

GRASS GIS primarily caters to geospatial professionals, researchers, and students in fields like geography, environmental science, urban planning, and geology. It is also used by government agencies and non-profit organizations for spatial data analysis and environmental modeling.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

GRASS GIS's answer:

As an open-source tool, GRASS GIS doesn't have "customers" in the traditional sense. However, it is widely used by various government agencies, academic institutions, and environmental organizations worldwide. Notable users include space agencies, numerous universities and research institutions as well as companies involved in geospatial studies and analysis.

What's the story behind your product?

GRASS GIS's answer:

GRASS GIS was initially developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a tool for land management and environmental planning. It was first released in the early 1980s and has since evolved into a robust, multi-functional GIS platform, largely due to contributions from a global community of developers. GRASS GIS is a founding member project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo.org).

What makes your product unique?

GRASS GIS's answer:

  • Open-Source and Free: GRASS GIS is completely open-source, allowing users to freely use, modify, and distribute it.
  • Advanced Geospatial Capabilities: It offers a wide range of tools for spatial modeling, geostatistics, and data management, making it suitable for advanced geospatial analysis.
  • Strong Community Support: Being open-source, it has a strong community of developers and users contributing to its continuous improvement.
  • Integration with Other Open-Source Tools: It can be integrated with other open-source GIS software like QGIS, providing a comprehensive GIS solution.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

GRASS GIS's answer:

  • Cost-Effectiveness: Being free and open, it is an excellent choice for those with a strong need for quality.
  • Customizability: Users can customize and extend its functionalities to suit their specific needs.
  • Comprehensive Geospatial Functions: It offers a wide range of geospatial functions that are comparable, and sometimes superior, to those in proprietary GIS software.
  • Strong Data Handling: It can handle large datasets efficiently, which is beneficial for complex geospatial analyses.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

GRASS GIS's answer:

GRASS GIS is primarily written in C, Python, and C++. It uses a range of geospatial libraries and technologies, including GDAL for data conversion, PROJ for coordinate transformations, and can interface with SQL databases.

User comments

Share your experience with using Manifold and GRASS GIS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Manifold and GRASS GIS

Manifold Reviews

30 Best GIS Software Applications [Rankings]
Manifold System is something you can just pick up and get accustomed to quickly. Its highlights are its intuitive interface, programmability and 64-bit processing. Manifold GIS has a solid set of tools. But without the high price tag.

GRASS GIS Reviews

The Top 10 Alternatives to ArcGIS
Grass GIS is a spatial database and software suite used for creating and managing maps, editing data, conducting spatial analysis, and sharing information. It is an open source software that runs on all major platforms, making it a convenient option for a variety of different users. There are many plugins and extensions available for Grass GIS, allowing you to customize it...
30 Best GIS Software Applications [Rankings]
GRASS GIS is one of those suites that let you geoprocess until the night falls. It’s a loaded gun with sophisticated tools. It’s so powerful that you can unleash GRASS GIS in QGIS as a separate toolbox. But its clunky interface and stubborn map projection rules hold it back.
Top 6 Free and Open-Source GIS Software
The free, open-source, and cross-platform compatible solution is the best GIS software solution that comes with the most enhanced features. GRASS was developed by the US government and is well-known by companies across the globe. The raster-based GIS software provides users advanced features such as an image processing system, vector GIS, graphics production system, spatial...
Source: linuxways.net
3 open source alternatives to ArcGIS Desktop
Let's begin with GRASS. GRASS, which stands for Geographic Resources Analysis Support System). It has a very long history, dating back to original development which began in 1982 under the US government. In the time since, GRASS has been adopted by the academic community, where its development continues today.
Source: opensource.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Manifold seems to be a lot more popular than GRASS GIS. While we know about 83 links to Manifold, we've tracked only 8 mentions of GRASS GIS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Manifold mentions (83)

  • Jpeg to ECW
    Manifold v9 is much more reasonable and highly capable for dealing with merging image files and exportation to ecw. It is even better than that route in leaving it in the manifold project format. IYKYK. Manifold.net. Source: 11 months ago
  • Low/no code web map builders?
    Low cost: Manifold. There's a new web/map server that's now part of the GIS for Universal and above editions, $195. If you have a Windows machine that has an externally visible IP (static IP on Internet, or visible IP in your internal network), just install the 31 MB download for Manifold, create the map you want in the usual desktop way, and then it can automatically serve that in a WYSIWYG way using a default... Source: 11 months ago
  • I found something even more useless than a "999999" error
    Only if you use lower quality software. Some software, including some GIS software, you can use every day, all day for 20 years and not expect to see a crash, not even once, no matter how complex the task. PostgreSQL is like that and for desktop GIS software, Manifold. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Merging two different DEMs
    An easy way is to use Manifold. The Merge Images dialog which merges any stack of rasters will merge two different DEMS in a couple of clicks. The dialog's page has links to detailed examples and a video showing how to merge DEMs. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Need to join raster and vector data
    Manifold Release 9 - it has a Join dialog that makes this trivial for almost any size data set. Takes a few clicks and less than a minute. Here's an illustrated, step-by-step example with an example video here. Source: about 1 year ago
View more

GRASS GIS mentions (8)

  • Geospatial Nix – create, use and deploy today
    Https://grass.osgeo.org/
        GRASS GIS offers powerful raster, vector, and geospatial processing engines in a single integrated software suite. It includes tools for terrain and ecosystem modeling, hydrology, visualization of raster and vector data, management and analysis of geospatial data, and the processing of satellite and aerial imagery. It comes with a temporal framework for advanced time series...
    - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • What's missing from C# in Godot 4?
    We haven't looked at integrating GRASS yet, as we're more interested in data display, not deep analysis. Just another example of a C/C++ library with front end bindings for Python. Numbers are crunched in C/C++, results returned to Python. Source: 11 months ago
  • Discussion Thread
    Anyone have good advice for where to learn how to use GRASS. Source: 11 months ago
  • GIS Developer career path
    Outside of personal experience, based on second-hand insight: GRASS is an extremely powerful tool, if you're not familiar with it already, and you can use it from the CLI and from Python. If you'd like to step out of Python at some point, I hear Java is used a lot for enterprise GIS, while Julia looks like the language of the future (especially now with JuliaGeo), but that still remains to be seen. Source: over 1 year ago
  • What other tools do you use to help you do GIS?
    Sometimes some modules from GRASS like r.lake at the moment. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Manifold and GRASS GIS, you can also consider the following products

Trello - Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.

QGIS - QGIS is a desktop geographic information system, or GIS.

Maptitude - Maptitude is a mapping software that is fitted with GIS features that avail maps and other forms of data regarding the surrounding geographical areas. Read more about Maptitude.

ArcGIS - ArcGIS software is a data analysis, cloud-based mapping platform that allows users to customize maps and see real-time data ranging from logistics support to overall mapping analysis.

ArcGIS Pro - Explore ArcGIS Pro resources such as tutorials, videos, documentation, instructor-led classes & more. Find answers, build expertise and connect with the ArcGIS Pro community.

SAGA GIS - SAGA - System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses - is a Geographic Information System (GIS)...