Mapserver WFS versus Geoserver WFS wrt namespaces

[Kralidis,Tom [Burlington]]

> I have been working a bit with Geoserver WFS lately, and one of the
> things that strikes me is that the handling of typenames is different.
> 
> In Mapserver a typename is advertized as (note without the namespace,
> although it is defined in the MAP file):
> 
>  <FeatureType>
> <Name>acn</Name>
> <Title>ACN</Title>
> <SRS>EPSG:28992</SRS>
> <LatLongBoundingBox minx="4.78998" miny="52.4714" maxx="4.93471"
> maxy="52.5414"/>
> </FeatureType>
> 

Note that the namespace stuff (wfs_namespace_prefix, wfs_namespace_uri)
is set globally for MapServer, as opposed to a per LAYER basis.

> In Geoserver, all typenames have a namespace (but there can be more
> typenames within a WFS instance), so e.g.:
> 
> <FeatureType>
> <Name>rwsagi:ADRLOC</Name>
> <Title>adreslocaties</Title>
> <Abstract>Generated from gazetteer</Abstract> <Keywords>ADRLOC 
> gazetteer</Keywords> <SRS>EPSG:28992</SRS>
> <LatLongBoundingBox minx="2.0" miny="52.0" maxx="6.0" 
> maxy="56.0"/> </FeatureType>
> 
> Would it not make more sense to use the same approach in
> Mapserver WFS, 
> i.e. use the namespace in front of the typename?
> 

What would this give us, exactly?  If anyone wants to further interact
with this feature, they could/would work with DescribeFeatureType which
will give them namespace info.

However, I would see this as valuable when we start thinking about
cataloguing OWS instances, which can enable one to search against data
from a particular namespace, etc.

..Tom