[OSGeo-Discuss] Conversion utility ArcMap to ArcIMS and MapServer

[Jeroen Ticheler]

Hi All,
I updated a tool that can be downloaded from ESRI ArcScripts: http:// 
arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=12766

Hope to get feedback from a.o. MapServer users.

Updated version released on 07-01-2007 (first release: May 2003)

After over 9000 downloads I added the option to create configuration  
files for other Web Map Servers like MapServer (http:// 
mapserver.gis.umn.edu) besides the already supported ArcIMS! You can  
extend this to other formats by adding new XSLT transformation  
stylesheets (see below 'Adding other formats')
The configuration files for ArcIMS and for MapServer are focussed on  
creating Open Geospatial Consortium compliant Web Map Services (OGC- 
WMS).
The files generated for MapServer can be customized by editing the  
"resoures/_MXDtoMap.xsl" file. The default form is particularly  
focussed on users that publish metadata and services through  
GeoNetwork opensource (http://geonetwork-opensource.org).

This tool converts ArcMap views (all layers in the view) into ArcIMS  
(ArcXML .axl) and MapServer (.map) configuration files, both for  
shapefiles and for raster files.

The conversion to MapServer is still under development and good  
improvements are very welcome!

I have basically had two problems reported. I hope these are fixed  
through this release.
This release fixes:
- Issues with ArcMap 9.2
- Allows you to convert Maps with up to 500 layers instead of 30.
Otherwise no changes have been made.

This tool is free and open source software released under the LGPL  
license. You can find the source code at http://sourceforge.net/ 
projects/arcmaptools
I would appreciate an e-mail if you like it ;-) (Jeroen at Ticheler.net)

Adding other formats:
You can add other output formats by creating XSLT documents that  
convert the AXL output generated by default. To do this, save the  
created XSLT in the resources folder and add a format Element to the  
formats.xml file that contains the parameters needed for that type of  
configuration file.
For example:

	<format>
		<ext>*.sld</ext>
		<filter>Style Layer Description files (*.sld)|*.sld</filter>
		<xslt>_MXDtoSLD.xsl</xslt>
	</format>

Good luck,
Jeroen Ticheler

07 February 2007