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<font size=3>I tend to agree with Steve that MapsServer probably won't be
able to create complex documents. We are in the process of developing a
system to automatically produce digital field guides based on species and
specimen data stored in an online database. I am working on implementing
distribution maps for each species page based on the location data stored
in the database. The full report requires quite complex formatting
including a table of content, front and back cover, page numbers, heading
styles etc. We decided to go the HTML/CSS way for this since PHP gives us
a wide range of tools for creating HTML code. The maps are created using
MapScript to create the dynamic layers. The PHP code returns an image
that can be used in a standard img tag like this <img
src=mapscript.php?speciesid=23...><br><br>
The main drawback is that there are still few (or none?) free tools that
can create high quality PDFs from complex HTML and CSS. The best
commercial tool is probably Prince
(<a href="http://www.princexml.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.princexml.com/</a>). I should have a first example up and
running in a few weeks. I will try to post it here so people can see what
an output could look like. I am currently using PNG but SVG could be
interesting for high-quality vector maps.<br><br>
Mathias<br><br>
<br>
At 22:41 20.01.2009, Steve Lime wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Brent et al... Lot's of good
discussion in the recent PDF thread but I'm not sure there was<br>
any decision made. My opinions changed as ideas came forth. I'm in the
"keep MapServer<br>
as simple as possible" camp. I'd like to hear more about
opportunities to integrate MapServer-based<br>
PDF output into more complex layouts. Ultimately that's what people want
to do. How are<br>
folks doing that?<br><br>
Steve<br>
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