[OpenLayers-Users] Geoserver vs ESRI ArcGIS Server.

[Robert Buckley]

Hello Geoserver users,

I am currently in a geoserver testing phase . I work for a regional authority in Germany and am in the process of deciding whether Opensource or ESRI should be used to build our WMS/WFS Service.
 
Our current GIS editing suite comprises of ArcGIS with the Imagemapper extension for internet maps. This is great for a quick visualisation of  mapping projects but has the disadvantage of not being a wms/wfs service. Observers can therefore only see the data as we have published them, and cannot load the data into their own GIS. There is also no support for layers as such, which is the main reason why I am looking at geoserver.

My question is for people who people who use ArcGIS to create their spatial data, and Geoserver to publish the data as WMS/WFS services.

How should I prepare my data for geoserver publishing? Is there a large amount of work needed to publish a geoserver project based on ArcGIS mxd  Projects? Is there any clear disadvantages to using a geoserver setup in comparison to an ArcGIS server setup? I have unfortunately not been able to use either software, but have read that an ArcGIS mxd Project can be directly converted with a few clicks into a wms service. How true is this?

I look forwards to your replies.

Yours,

Robert Buckley
www.zgb.de

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