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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>Hi,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=196451407-15042010>I
agree especially with your 7th point, in real life things are seldomly just
black or white. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>> </SPAN>1. MapServer is generally better
when dealing with WMS, while GeoServer deals better with WFS.<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>Well, they have some differences in WMS but I
wouldn't say one is better than another. I agree partly when it comes to
WFS, at least it is easier to set up Geoserver WFS so that ready made WFS
clients are willing to discuss with it. However, I add some
conditions</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>- I have not played a lot with Mapserver WFS so I
do not know all the tricks.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>- I have felt that Mapserver WFS works quite nice when
I send requests through a browser or wget ot something, and most problems are
due to WFS clients which do not want to parse the gml. Clients tend
to be over-sensible for my mind.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>- Unfortunately that is a common phenomena, clients
developed against deegree WFS do not work properly against Geoserver
WFS or Mapserver WFS and so on.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=196451407-15042010>>
</SPAN>2. A big difference is that GeoServer supports WFS-T, that it
Transactional WFS (editing of feature services on the client side), while
MapServer don’t.<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>- That's true.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN><BR></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT
face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>> </SPAN>4. MapServer is a more mature project
(1996), while GeoServer is a bit more recent (2003).<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>They are both mature enough for
me.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN><BR><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>> </SPAN>5. GeoServer has a web tool
administration that eases configuration.<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>That is also true. There used to be a MapLab
application alongside Mapserver and that helped me to take my first
steps with Mapserver but now it is gone. I believe that without MapLab I
wouldn't have started to play with Mapserver
ever.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=196451407-15042010>>
</SPAN>6. MapServer has without any doubt a very powerful cartography
system, providing data under dynamic vectors with high quality<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>Mapserver may have more advanced cartographical
features but Geoserver can look good also. Creating good looking
cartography is an artistic job. Geoserver is using SLD for styling which
is the OGC standard way.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN><BR><SPAN class=196451407-15042010>>
</SPAN>7. None of them is better or worse. The development objectives are
different.<SPAN
class=196451407-15042010> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>> </SPAN>8. PHP Mapscript for Mapserver, which
provides a powerful scripting interface for PHP programmers. For Java
programmers, Geoserver might be a better choice<BR><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>I believe that Geoserver does not really
offer the same kind of possibilities to build interactive server side
application with scripting. However, quite a lot can be done by
making a client to combine WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo and WFS
requests.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>I add a few other differencies which I have
faced myself.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>9. Text based mapfile vs xml. For a user
whose first sight on a computer screen was a green DOS:> prompt,
reading and writing text based mapfiles may feel easier than xml stuff in the
data_dir of Geoserver. </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>10. The same text keen users may prefer
writing Geoserver CQL filters (see for example <A
href="http://lyceum.massgis.state.ma.us/wiki/doku.php?do=export_xhtml&id=cql">http://lyceum.massgis.state.ma.us/wiki/doku.php?do=export_xhtml&id=cql</A>) when
testing http GET queries instead of OGC standard filters
buried inside SLD_BODY. On the other hand, Mapserver offers same kind
of possibilities with variable substitution.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>11. For mapserver a mapfile means
a service. Geoserver is in running one WMS/WFS/WCS service for all
users. Layers can be filtered by using the security subsystem, but it is
not at all as flexible than creating separate mapfiles for different users or
user groups.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>12. Geoserver has an installer that installs the
server, demo data, demo applications, and graphical user interface for
administrating the server. What is best is that nightly builds are also
available, and Windows users can achieve and install them with ease. It is
about the same as getting a new MS4W version every
day.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010>-Jukka Rahkonen-</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=196451407-15042010></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>