[MapServer-dev] Notes from the FOSS4G Europe MapServer workshop

[Seth G]

Hi all,

It is always good to see how people who have never used MapServer before start working with the software. I took a few notes during the workshop at FOSS4G Europe in Mostar (and thanks again to Even and Tom for assisting). Maybe some of the more common pain points are fixable.

- STATUS is always a source of confusion (what does DEFAULT mean, should it be set to ON or OFF when working with WMS)
- what language is the Mapfile written in, it looks like something from the 1980s (how rude! :-))
- ows_onlineresource - when and how should it be set. I think this is something we could look at simplifying by allowing a "root_url" in the CONFIG file, so individual Mapfiles wouldn't need this changing when moved from server to server. 
- having to add a TEMPLATE keyword for a layer to appear in the OGC Features API is hard to explain

The attendees were excited/impressed that a simple text change in a Mapfile can instantly be seen in a web application like OpenLayers without a need for restarting services / compiling / deploying. The newer GDAL formats and virtual file systems are also a unique selling point of MapServer. 

Seth

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