[Tilecache] TMS and WMTS

[Christopher Schmidt]

On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 08:43:34AM +0800, Bruce Foster wrote:
> Lists,
> 
> I'm trying to find out whats the difference between;
> 
> OSGeo TMS (tile map service)
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Tile_Map_Service_Specification
> 
> and
> 
> OGC WMTS (Tiled WMS)
> http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms  (on discussion)
> 
> 
> One can see that the reference implementation of TMS on;
> 
> Servers
> TileCache
> http://www.tilecache.org/
> Clients
> Worldkit: http://worldkit.org/tilemap/
> Openlayers: http://openlayers.org/
> Cadcorp SIS: Screenshot
> 
> 
> for the OGC WMTS, I read that Geowebcache, carbonarc project and some
> others have done (looking for the list also, will do some research)
> 
> Now, whats the difference and WHY two different standards on tile from
> the geo community? Just curious.. is there any big difference between
> the TMS and WMTS?

It's not just two. TileCache has 7 different tile reference 
implementations -- "WMS-C", Virtual Earth style addressing, WorldWind,
MGMaps, etc. 

The WMTS spec is much more complex, and 'fully featured', as is common
in specs designed by committee. Practically speaking, if TMS does what 
you need, you won't need WMTS, and I can't imagine that anyone on this
list practically needs WMTS over TMS.

Regards,
-- 
Christopher Schmidt
MetaCarta