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<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
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On 12/01/11 05:59, Alan Boudreault wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:201101111359.19862.aboudreault@mapgears.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Hi Cameron, I've written a first version of the quick start. It is very simple
and basic. Let me know if it's ok.
Alan
</pre>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Alan,<br>
This is a good first draft of a Quickstart, you have covered an
appropriate depth of a use case.<br>
In improving it, I suggest that you add a few descriptive words
around each step, explaining "Why" you are doing each step.<br>
<br>
Note that our target user likely won't have heard of MapServer,
won't know that MapServer is only server based rather than a desktop
application, might not know what a WMS is or what styling a feature
means. So you should add a few extra sentences to spell this out.<br>
<br>
For a good example which uses similar terminology, I suggest looking
at the Geoserver Quickstart:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://adhoc.osgeo.osuosl.org/livedvd/docs/en/quickstart/geoserver_quickstart.html">http://adhoc.osgeo.osuosl.org/livedvd/docs/en/quickstart/geoserver_quickstart.html</a><br>
<br>
I hope you don't mind me CCing the Live List with these comments, as
they will be applicable to other authors as well.<br>
<br>
<br>
Below are a few specific comments ...<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite"> <br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="section" id="id1">
<h1>MapServer Quickstart<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="headerlink" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>MapServer is an <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="reference
external" href="http://www.opensource.org">Open Source</a>
geographic data rendering engine. It allows you create
“geographic image maps”.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
I suggest something like:<br>
... It is a server based application which allows you to publish
geographic map images and vector layers to the internet using OGC
standards.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<p>This Quick Start describes how to:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Create a mapfile</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
... Configure Mapserver through using the "mapfile" configuration
file<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<blockquote>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Visualize a map using Web Map Service (WMS)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
</div>
</blockquote>
... using the Web Map Service (WMS) interface and browser client<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<blockquote>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Add a new layer from a shapefile</li>
<li>Style a layer</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<div class="section" id="create-a-mapfile">
<h2>Create a mapfile<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="headerlink" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>Firstly, we are going to create a simple mapfile.</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>Open any text editor (Mousepad is the default text
editor on the live dvd: <em>Applications ‣ Accessories ‣
Mousepad</em>).</li>
<li>Create the file “mapserver_quickstart.map” in your home
directory: <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">/home/user/mapserver_quickstart.map</span></tt></li>
</ol>
<p>The file should contains the following content:</p>
<div class="highlight-python">
<pre>MAP
NAME "MAPSERVER QUICKSTART"
STATUS ON
EXTENT -137 29 -53 88
UNITS DEGREE
SHAPEPATH "/home/user/data/natural_earth/"
SIZE 800 600
PROJECTION
"init=epsg:900913"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
NAME 'AGG/PNG'
DRIVER AGG/PNG
END
LAYER
NAME "Admin Countries"
STATUS DEFAULT
TYPE POLYGON
DATA "10m-admin-0-countries"
CLASS
STYLE
COLOR 246 241 223
OUTLINECOLOR 0 0 0
END
END
END
END</pre>
</div>
<div class="admonition note"> </div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
I suggest adding a few paragraphs here explaining the structure of
the mapfile. Explain the Field/Attribute relationship and the
structure of the document, probably using one or 2 of the attributes
as an example.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<div class="section" id="create-a-mapfile">
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="first admonition-title">Note</p>
<p class="last">The example uses the natural earth dataset,
which is already installed on the live dvd: <tt
class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">~/data/natural_earth</span></tt>
(a short cut to <tt class="docutils literal"><span
class="pre">/usr/local/share/data/natural_earth</span></tt>)</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="visualize-the-map-using-wms">
<h2>Visualize the map using WMS<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="headerlink" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Add a few paragraphs here adding some background content. Probably
explaining that mapserver is a web service, and that you are passing
in parameters to the mapfile, and requesting a WMS request, which is
then being built into a image. An alternative way to query would be
via a WFS interface for vector data.<br>
<br>
(Please don't copy my words verbatim, I'm sure you could write
better)<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<div class="section" id="visualize-the-map-using-wms">
<p>Open the web browser and enter the following URL:</p>
<div class="highlight-python">
<pre><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv?map=/home/user/mapserver_quickstart.map&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=Getmap&VERSION=1.1.1&LAYERS=Admin%20Countries&SRS=EPSG:4326&BBOX=-137,29,-53,88&FORMAT=AGG/PNG&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600">http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv?map=/home/user/mapserver_quickstart.map&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=Getmap&VERSION=1.1.1&LAYERS=Admin%20Countries&SRS=EPSG:4326&BBOX=-137,29,-53,88&FORMAT=AGG/PNG&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600</a></pre>
</div>
<p>You should see a map of north america.</p>
<blockquote> <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="reference
external image-reference"><br>
</a> </blockquote>
</div>
<div class="section" id="add-a-new-layer-from-a-shapefile">
<h2>Add a new layer from a shapefile<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="headerlink" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>We will now add a new layer to our mapfile. Before last <em>END</em>
statement in the mapfile, add the following layer
configuration:</p>
<div class="highlight-python">
<pre>LAYER
NAME "Lakes"
STATUS DEFAULT
TYPE POLYGON
DATA "10m_lakes"
CLASS
STYLE
COLOR 153 179 204
END
END
END</pre>
</div>
<p>In your browser, visualize the map using this URL:</p>
<div class="highlight-python">
<pre><a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv?map=/home/user/mapserver_quickstart.map&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=Getmap&VERSION=1.1.1&LAYERS=Admin%20Countries,Lakes&SRS=EPSG:4326&BBOX=-137,29,-53,88&FORMAT=AGG/PNG&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600">http://localhost/cgi-bin/mapserv?map=/home/user/mapserver_quickstart.map&SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=Getmap&VERSION=1.1.1&LAYERS=Admin%20Countries,Lakes&SRS=EPSG:4326&BBOX=-137,29,-53,88&FORMAT=AGG/PNG&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600</a></pre>
</div>
<p>You should now see the initial map with the lakes from our
new layer.</p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Good, again a bit of content would help. Probably point out that you
have added "Lakes" to the URL, and a few other interesting things.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<div class="section" id="add-a-new-layer-from-a-shapefile">
<blockquote> <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="reference
external image-reference"><br>
</a> </blockquote>
</div>
<div class="section" id="style-a-layer">
<h2>Style a layer<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="headerlink"
title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
I suggest introduce this section by explaining what styling is
(adding colour to the map).<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<div class="section" id="style-a-layer">
<p>For example, we are going to style our lakes layer. The
dataset contains an attribute named <em>ScaleRank</em>,
which is probably related to the size of the lake. Modify
the layer configuration to get:</p>
<div class="highlight-python">
<pre>LAYER
NAME "Lakes"
STATUS DEFAULT
TYPE POLYGON
DATA "10m_lakes"
CLASSITEM "ScaleRank"
CLASS
EXPRESSION /0|1/
STYLE
COLOR 153 179 204
OUTLINECOLOR 0 0 0
END
END
CLASS
STYLE
COLOR 153 179 204
END
END
END</pre>
</div>
<p>The above layer configuration draws big lakes in a light
blue with a black outlines and all other lakes will be drawn
in a dark blue.</p>
<blockquote> <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="reference
external image-reference"><br>
</a> </blockquote>
</div>
<div class="section" id="what-next">
<h2>What Next?<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="headerlink"
title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
<p>This is only the first step on the road to using MapServer.
There is a lot more great material (and ability) left for
you to discover on our website.</p>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Suggest you briefly summarise highlights of things people will find
in the documentation. Eg: WFS interface, web interface, how to
style, how to ...<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:4D2CCBCE.4000600@gmail.com" type="cite">
<div class="section" id="id1">
<div class="section" id="what-next">
<ul class="simple">
<li>Check MapServer documentation, tutorials and examples
available on <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="reference
external"
href="http://mapserver.org/en/documentation.html">http://mapserver.org/en/documentation.html</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
</pre>
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