Andrew,

Unfortunately I do require to have a distributable application with live mapping facilities. As far as I can see Manifold will not do this - although it does sound to do everything else!!

Thanks
Barry.

>Barry,
>
>If you're doing the processing yourself (and not producing an application you need to be able to distribute), then have a very good look at Manifold (http://www.manifold.net). It's a fantastic GIS with all the processing power of ArcInfo (and probably more than ArcView or MapInfo) for around USD 300. Version 5.00 has just been released (after an extensive public Beta) and it is FANTASTIC. It's got a complete object model and an internet map server component that is (I'm running out of superlatives).
>
>Tech support is second to none and the mailing list is almost as active as ProFox with people from all around the place (including many in the forestry industry) contributing. There's even been a wiki set up recently to share scripts and so on.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Andrew
>
>>Quinn,
>>
>>I visited the ESRI web site and saw they were advertising MO Lite but it did not seem to be shareware? In fact they did not seem to have a download version available for the Lite version.
>>
>>MO Lite sounds like it would be ideal for me. I am having to invest my own money at this stage so do not want to spend too much in the first instance until I am sure I have the right software.
>>
>>My own application is a forestry application too. I do not need much at all in the way of map making. I will be given the map data as shape files and associated data to plug into my app. I will then do some GPS readings and generate a new overlay and pass this back to my customer.
>>
>>Any tips or advice you could give me would be most welcome indeed.
>>Thanks
>>Barry.
>>
>>
>>>
>>>I use MapObjects 2.1 in VFP. I have a full Forestry based map browser built on it. I have not actually used the GPS tracking portion of it but the functionality is there. I have seen one App. done in VB that used MO2.1 for GPS tracking. There is a shareware version of MO2.1 called Mo Lite. There is some functionality missing in the free version. The only drawback to the software is the map making capabilities but if that is not a problem it is a great piece of software. I could give you some map making tips if you need.
>>>
>>>Quinn