[GeoMoose-users] Click value on Raster Layer
Dennis Falkenberg
DFalkenberg at chippewacountywi.gov
Wed Jan 21 13:49:46 PST 2026
Thank you all!
My main issue turned out to be the differences in Mapserver from version 6 to version 8, with the added coding from Dan helping me get the DEM loading and identifiable.
The most important issues I found with the DEM were the TOLERANCE 0, the COMPOSITE setting with OPACITY 0 and TEMPLATE ‘dummy’. The COMPOSITE setting greatly enhanced the rendering speed of the WMS service, due to being transparent, but left me with the underlying information that I needed.
My map file setting ended up looking like this for the DEM layer:
LAYER # DEM_20
NAME 'be_dem_20'
STATUS ON
TYPE RASTER
DATA 'data/dem/2020/ChippewaCo_DEM.tif'
TEMPLATE 'dummy'
TOLERANCEUNITS feet
TOLERANCE 0
COMPOSITE
OPACITY 0
END # COMPOSITE
PROJECTION
'init=epsg:7595'
END
METADATA
'ows_title' 'be_dem_20'
'ows_include_items' 'all'
'wms_include_items' 'all'
'gml_include_items' 'all'
END
END # DEM_20
With this layer being one that we always want on, with the information always reporting with each identify, I chose to keep it out of the Catalog and status=”on” in the mapbook.
I added the |fix>1 config to <div class="item"><label>Elevation:</label>{{ properties.value_0|fix>1 }}</div> in order to keep my elevation reporting down to one decimal point. Otherwise it was over 10 digits long.
Tanya, I will look into your method as well. Thank you for the additional suggestion.
Dennis
From: Christopher Hughes <chughes at co.lincoln.or.us>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 2:20 PM
To: Dan Little <theduckylittle at gmail.com>; TC Haddad <tchaddad at gmail.com>
Cc: Dennis Falkenberg <DFalkenberg at chippewacountywi.gov>; geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [GeoMoose-users] Click value on Raster Layer
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I was messing around with this a bit and just got an imagery layer working with identify using type="wms", (setting the parameters in the mapbook.xml using a URL pointing to a wms layer that's set up in a mapfile) so I can confirm that it's possible. I was initially connecting to a wms layer from a different server, though I just switched it to a layer on the same server and that worked too (still not doing it quite like Tanya as I'm still connecting in the mapbook via a URL to the wms).
I did have to adjust some of my site/mapfile settings to get everything to work properly though
* I had to add a CORS header on my wms server to connect to a layer on a different server
* I needed to add TEMPLATE 'dummy' and ows/gml_include_items 'all' in the source mapfile or else identify wouldn't return any results
* I needed to add TOLERANCE 0 or else I would get a lot more results than desired (the latter two points you already have, but I wanted to mention why they're there for anyone else)
For Tanya's comment about potentially not needing a layer in the catalog - I have a few layers that are just on in the background without any catalog entry, just by setting up the map-source with status="on", so that definitely works if you want the DEM on automatically without people being able to turn it off.
Chris
--
Chris Hughes
GIS Analyst
Lincoln County GIS Department
880 NE 7th St. l Newport, OR 97365
Tel: (541) 574 1283
________________________________
From: GeoMoose-users <geomoose-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org>> on behalf of TC Haddad via GeoMoose-users <geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org>>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 11:55 AM
To: Dan Little <theduckylittle at gmail.com<mailto:theduckylittle at gmail.com>>
Cc: Dennis Falkenberg <DFalkenberg at chippewacountywi.gov<mailto:DFalkenberg at chippewacountywi.gov>>; geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org> <geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org>>
Subject: Re: [GeoMoose-users] Click value on Raster Layer
Hi Dennis,
I've done exactly what you describe in GM3. Slightly different than Duck's method because like you I serve the DEM from MapServer and in GM3 you can still use MapServer directly as a source.
The steps are:
- create a mapfile for the DEM source, and list it as a map source in the Mapbook
- the mapfile is configured for WMS GetInfo, STATUS is ON, and (optional) there is no STYLE defined
- the Mapbook map source should have an identify template so that any results are visible to the user
- user will get a result from the DEM whenever they click within the bounds of the DEM
Here is the basic Mapbook map source if it's helpful:
<map-source name=" bare_earth " type="mapserver" tiled="false">
<file>bare_earth</file>
<layer name="bare_earth" status="on">
<template name="identify"><![CDATA[
<div class="result-item">
<div class="result-title" style="background-color: #F5DEB3; padding: 5px; ">
LiDAR Spot Elevation
</div>
<b>Bare Earth NAVD88 Elevation: </b> {{ properties.value_0 }}<br>
</div>
]]>
</template>
</layer>
<param name="FORMAT" value="image/png;bits=8"/>
</map-source>
I like having no style defined for the web service so that the DEM itself is not visible, and the elevation result is a "bonus" result that returns along with whatever results are relevant for the clicked location.
I haven't tried the type="wms" method of access for the DEM, but can set up a test if needed. I think with status="on" in the map source you might not need the layer to be listed in the catalog?, but without testing I'm not sure...
best,
Tanya
On Wed, Jan 21, 2026 at 9:13 AM Dan Little via GeoMoose-users <geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org>> wrote:
Hi Dennis!
Sorry for the slow response here. In the history of GM3, I could not find any other queries about raster investigation! A total valid use case, especially for identify!
GeoMoose3 works differently with WMS/WFS being the primary way it tries to process results. GeoMoose 2 allowed raw HTML insertion from MapServer and that workflow was getting increasingly frowned upon for security reasons.
Is there any chance there is a public endpoint for this right now? It looks like the basic process should be:
- Configure the DEM as WMS (looks like that's done)
- Defined the <map-source type="wms"> in the mapbook with a <layer> with a <template> for identify
- (This may be the controversial part) You'll need a <catalog> <layer /> </catalog> entry that lets the layer be on. This might be avoided with some tricks but I haven't dug all the way in yet. If anything this might be a necessary debugging step to ensure the WMS is reprojecting properly.
All together this would look something like this:
<map-source name="dem" type="wms">
<url>http://somewhere.over/the/rainbow/wms?</url>
<layer name="DEM" status="on">
<template name="identify"><![CDATA[
<div class="identify-result">
<div class="item"><label>Elevation:</label>{{ properties.item name=value_0|fix>1 }}</div>
</div>
]]></template>
</layer>
<param name="FORMAT" value="image/png"/>
<param name="TRANSPARENT" value="TRUE"/>
<param name="cross-origin" value="anonymous"/>
</map-source>
<catalog>
...
<layer src="dem/dem" title="DEM" />
...
</catalog>
On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 11:51 AM Dennis Falkenberg via GeoMoose-users <geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geomoose-users at lists.osgeo.org>> wrote:
I am working on a new GM3 site and would like to replicate, if possible, something available on our current GM2.6 site.
The GeoMoose sites are located on an AWS EC2 server. With our GM2.6 site, any location that was clicked with the identify tool returned an elevation value based on our most current DEM. The DEM was listed in the map source portion of the conf file, but not in the catalog in GM2.6.
Is it possible to capture elevations off of a DEM with GM3? My map file configuration and identify html verbiage are just below.
Any help would be appreciated! Thank you
LAYER # DEM_20
NAME 'be_dem_20'
STATUS ON
TYPE RASTER
DATA 'data/dem/2020/ChippewaCo_DEM.tif'
CLASSITEM "[pixel]"
OFFSITE 0 0 0
MAXSCALEDENOM 25
PROJECTION
'init=epsg:7595'
END
METADATA
'ows_title' 'be_dem_20'
'ows_include_items' 'all'
'gml_include_items' 'all'
'ows_exclude_items' 'SHAPE_area,SHAPE_len'
'gml_exclude_items' 'SHAPE_area,SHAPE_len'
END
TOLERANCEUNITS meters
TOLERANCE 0
# CLASS
# STYLE
# COLORRANGE 255 255 255 0 0 0
# DATARANGE 874 1201
# END
# END
TEMPLATE 'dummy'
END # DEM_20
<div class="identify-result">
<div class="feature-class">2020 Elevation</div>
<div class="item"><label>Elevation:</label>{{ properties.item name=value_0|fix>1 }}</div>
</div>
Dennis Falkenberg
Chippewa County GIS Coordinator
715.738.2595
dfalkenberg at chippewacountywi.gov<mailto:dfalkenberg at co.chippewa.wi.us>
Desktop Mapping Site<https://mapping.chippewacountywi.gov/>
Mobile Friendly Mapping Site<https://chipcogis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=258d5a3b2ee2476bb1953a443cd703c8>
Data upload site<https://chippewacounty.sharefile.com/filedrop/dxa8988a-58cf-4413-b8be-ac4ce8428204>
CHIPPEWA COUNTY COURTHOUSE HOURS
MONDAY-THURSDAY 7:30 – 4:30
FRIDAY 7:30-11:30
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