[mapserver-dev] Re: GeoServer superseeding MapServer in Europe?

[Mark Volz]

Hello,

As a comparatively new user to Mapserver I just thought I would put in my two
cents.

I think the main reasons why one would chose one product over another is due
to performance, features, and ease of use.   For most applications the
performance between Mapserver and GeoServer appears comparable.   Second,
GeoServer has some interesting features, however both Mapserver and Geoserver
has a decent feature set.  This leaves us at ease of use...

When I first tried out Mapserver a few years ago I searched for documentation
for installing Mapserver, which lead me to "compiling on Win32."  Needless to
say I quickly became frustrated and lost trying to find all the correct
dependencies on different websites.  I soon decided that it was simply too
much work bother with and gave up.  Later on I had found the MS4W project,
which to any new user is very easy to use as they only have to click
apache-start.bat to get mapserver up and running.

Next, I think any new user is interested in finding an all inclusive
application that helps them build a mapping site, that way users can take the
example application and plug in their own data.  Mapserver has excellent
documentation and examples for the Mapfile itself, however besides the one
simple map on the main page there are no examples of applications.  I think
the MS4W website does a better job at distributing applications such as
GeoMoose, and PMapper that people can download, plug in their own data and
then publish the site to the web.  Perhaps people might be more intrested in
using mapserver if there was a "Gallary" that allowed new potential users the
ability to see what Mapserver can really do.



To summarize here are some things that I think would attract new users:
-Make the link to MS4W or FGS more prevalent.
-Add a Gallery that links to "Easy to set up applications" such as GeoMoose,
PMapper.
-If possible include some of the dependencies for compiling mapserver on the
website so people do not need to sift around several websites.


Mark Volz
GIS Specialist
Lyon County, MN

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:58:16 -0400
From: Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com>
Subject: [mapserver-dev] GeoServer superseeding MapServer in Europe?
To: 'MapServer Dev List' <mapserver-dev at lists.osgeo.org>
Message-ID: <4C34C038.9050204 at mapgears.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi Bart,

I saw that you tweeted the following this morning:

"bartvdeijnden: #Geoserver is superseding #Mapserver at least here in Europe
and I am starting to switch mentally as well (as an early adopter of
Mapserver)"

Would you care to please elaborate on the reasons you see for this, and
perhaps guide us on what we can do to help this situation?

I can't imagine that the slower pace of new developments and releases of the
last year or two is the only reason for that (or is it?). Your feedback and
thoughts would be much welcome.

Daniel
--
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/mapserver-dev/attachments/20100708/c26c1fc1/attachment.html