[UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Question re: PostGIS and MapScript getExtent() function

[Paul Ramsey]

Steve,

If you grep through the source, you'll see the calls, which are  
mainly in the WMS code (pulling extents for capabilities).  The  
problem is that the return time for the call can be very large for  
very large tables.  Which is not really acceptable for a capabilities  
return.  Maybe it is acceptable for your application.  This is the  
real problem.  We want something with very low return times (as a  
shapefile extents call is) but we cannot get it with the extent()  
function, because that requires a sequence scan.

So basically, we cannot simply stick in your implementation, or we  
are building a big obscure "gotcha" into mapserver. ("Why does it  
take forever to return a capabilities file for my PostGIS backed WMS?  
Everything else is fast.")

Perhaps the folks on -DEV can return some zen wisdom on the correct  
approach to this.

Paul

On 12-Jul-05, at 9:52 AM, Steve Hall wrote:

> Hi Paul,
>
> Exactly right - it definitely needs reviewing by those that know  
> more about MapServer internals than I do.  (which is most of you I  
> expect).
>
> How is this function used my MapServer itself then?  The context in  
> which I am using it is via an explicit $layerObj->getExtent() call  
> from PHP/MapScript, so in this respect the current implementation  
> is not much use, but I suspect there is more to this function than  
> just an implementation for this call.   The main issue I had was  
> that this function worked as I expected for Oracle, yet not for  
> PostGIS, meaning I'd need some ugly code in my app to deal with the  
> inconsistency...
>
> Anyway, i've attached my version of the function for you to take a  
> look at. My implemenation is basically the version that was  
> commented out, with the compilcation errors & warning resolved,  
> added support for the FILTER expression and support for either BOX  
> or BOX3D return clauses from PostGIS extent().
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Steve
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Ramsey"  
> <pramsey at refractions.net>
> To: "Steve Hall" <steve.hall at MERCATORGEOSYSTEMS.CO.UK>
> Cc: <MAPSERVER-USERS at LISTS.UMN.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 3:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Question re: PostGIS and  
> MapScript getExtent() function
>
>
>
>> msPOSTGISLayerGetExtent() is potentially extremely inefficient,   
>> depending on how it is implemented, so I would have to see your  
>> patch  to judge if it does more harm than good. It may be doing  
>> good things  for you and bad things for others.  One thing it  
>> *could* do without  harm is read the wms_extent meta-parameter and  
>> use that if it is  provided by the user. There are also a few  
>> version specific fast  extent functions available in PostGIS, but  
>> they are not guaranteed to  work in all cases, at all times,  
>> correctly.
>>
>> On 12-Jul-05, at 2:58 AM, Steve Hall wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I'm using MapServer 4.6.0 with Oracle Spatial and PostGIS data   
>>> sources via PHP/MapScript.  Part of my application code looks  
>>> like  this pseudo-code :
>>>
>>>     $map->setLayerFilter("ThematicData", "REQUEST_ID=121");
>>>     $map->zoomToLayer("ThematicData");
>>> Here i'm setting a specific FILTER expression for a layer, and  
>>> then zooming to the extent of the (now filtered) layer.  I use  
>>> the layerObj->getExtent() and then mapObj->setExtent() functions  
>>> to  achieve this behind the scenes.  This works great for Oracle,  
>>> the  query is fast and makes for nice, tidy code in my  
>>> application  without the need for Oracle specific SQL statements  
>>> to derive the  new extent.
>>>
>>> However when I try this on PostGIS I just get a massive  
>>> (useless)  extent returned.  Digging into the code I can see that  
>>> the msPOSTGISLayerGetExtent() function in mappostgis.c is  
>>> effectively  doing nothing although a lot of code is commented out.
>>>
>>> Working on my local code I have re-enabled this code, fixed the  
>>> compilation errors and changed it so that when a FILTER is  
>>> applied  to the layer this is used as part of the SQL call to  
>>> PG.  It seems  to work great (from PHP/MapScript) and performance  
>>> is fine and is  really useful for me meaning I don't need to  
>>> calculate the extents  for a map myself - MapServer can supply  
>>> the information in a  generic and abstract fashion.
>>>
>>> Ideally I would like to get this code fed back into MapServer,  
>>> but  of course only if it's acceptable to you all.  So,  should  
>>> I  instead post this to mapserver-dev or can I pass on the new  
>>> code to  someone from here?
>>>
>>> There may be good, historical, reasons why this wasn't ever   
>>> implemented though so please let me know!
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> Steve Hall
>>>
>>>
>>> <msPOSTGISLayerGetExtent.c>
>