New MapServer Demo (feedback requested)

[Pericles S. Nacionales]

Yeah, that would be a very good approach.  Others can help out if we 
provide a list of what demos are needed or could use updates/improvements.

-Perry

Steve Lime wrote:
> I wonder if a demo really becomes a series of how-to's, some of which already exist. Those
> that require data would could be developed against a common dataset.
>
> Steve
>
>   
>>>> On 1/3/2008 at 2:27 PM, in message <477D453C.2000101 at umn.edu>, "Pericles S.
>>>>         
> Nacionales" <naci0002 at UMN.EDU> wrote:
>   
>> Steve,
>>
>> My $0.02...  a good tutorial should provide installation 
>> instructions--how to get MapServer working on different platforms.  But 
>> this alone can be very complicated as there are various things to 
>> consider within each platform.  In Windows, for example, you can write 
>> something for MS4W (which is simple as MS4W itself is configured to work 
>> right of the box), for Apache, and for IIS.  In Linux, there's FGS and 
>> other packages to consider but there are also differences in different 
>> distributions.  You can write a generic installation instructions but 
>> that generally make sense only to people who are familiar with their 
>> particular system.  Many new users might still have a hard time 
>> following through that instructions.
>>
>> I think what we've been doing in terms of examples (in workshops) is 
>> good--separate map files, HTML templates, other client interface 
>> examples, and related technologies.  Beyond that, I think we can provide 
>> links to other tutorials/demo from these other packages.  You can also 
>> provide examples of your strategies in optimizing MapServer performance, 
>> how to use different data connection types (PostGIS/Oracle, WxS, etc.), 
>> and the other supported OGC specifications supported in MapServer.
>>
>> As for demo data, that's a tough one.  Maybe you can have different 
>> levels of data quality--small scale vector and raster data (maybe 
>> country boundaries and MODIS raster), medium scale (i.e. a 
>> state/province or a small country) with good highways and political 
>> boundaries, and large scale data (cadastral data, but where would you 
>> get example you can make available publicly?).  Having these levels 
>> should provide good coverage of MapServer's capabilities.  Or make it 
>> simple enough so that anyone can plug in their own data and work with it.
>>
>> I guess if you cover all these, you have yourself a book.  Let me know 
>> how I can help.
>>
>> -Perry
>>
>> Steve Lime wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi all: I've got some time to put together a new demo for MapServer and 
>>>       
>> would to get feedback from
>>     
>>> the community on what it should look like. Currently there are a number of 
>>>       
>> options out there but none
>>     
>>> of them are very comprehensive. Demos that I know about include:
>>>
>>>   - the Itasca demo application (came out of the MUM1 meeting): 
>>>       
>> http://maps.dnr.state.mn.us/mapserver_demos/workshop-5.0/ 
>>     
>>>   - Perry Nacionales' MapServer tutorial: 
>>>       
>> http://biometry.gis.umn.edu/tutorial/ 
>>     
>>>   - Mobile Geographics' MapServer Recipies: 
>>>       
>> http://www.mobilegeographics.com/mapserver/ 
>>     
>>>   - MN DNR MapServer Test Suite: 
>>>       
>> http://maps.dnr.state.mn.us/mapserver_demos/tests46/ 
>>     
>>>   - Various MS4W packages: http://www.maptools.org/ms4w/index.phtml 
>>>
>>> There are of course lots of questions:
>>>
>>>   - should a demo be installable, hosted or both
>>>   - what data should it use
>>>   - should it cover just MapServer configuration (e.g. mapfiles)
>>>   - should it cover installation as well or should that be left to how-to's
>>>   - what relationship to other packages (e.g. OpenLayers, TileCache, Ka-map) 
>>>       
>> should be demo'd
>>     
>>> Any feedback would be much appreciated. 
>>>
>>> Steve
>>>   
>>>   
>>>