[mapserver-users] MapServer 3.5 Officially Released

[Stephen Lime]

Greetings: I'm pleased (and relieved) to announce that MapServer version
3.5 is ready for public consumption. It took about a year (9 months from
the 3.4 release), but I think in the end it was worth the wait. Many
users have been working with the development version for sometime now,
but if you've not taken the plunge, now's the time. There are some very
nice new features including:

  - a reworked layer handling system that supports rendering/query
across data sources
  - ESRI SDE support (native)
  - Oracle Spatial support (native)
  - Postgres PostGIS support (native)
  - MapInfo files using OGR (see
http://gdal.velocet.ca/projects/opengis/)
  - raster projection using GDAL (see
http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/)
  - OpenGIS WMS Server Support
  - OpenGIS WMS Client Layers
  - PDF creation from mapfiles
  - GML output via WMS getFeatureInfo requests
  - reworked attribute query support

and ton's of other enhancements and bug fixes.

Is it perfect? No, the system is complex and there are undoubtedly bugs
and we know that a few features are not quite complete. However, these
issues are relatively minor and will be resolved soon. We expect
maintainance releases monthly and as always you have access to the
development tree.

Are we finished? Heck no! Among the next set of development objectives
are improved line rendering (both in cartographic quality and speed),
making MapServer thread safe and a Java MapScript distribution. As
always we need user input in order to guide development and also to help
document the system. The MapServer Documentation Project is always
looking for volunteers, visit mapserver.gis.umn.edu/mdp to learn how you
can help support MapServer! Documentation for the new release is in good
shape, but we need help with the last couple of pieces.

Finally, we should all thank the developers who made this recent version
a reality (believe me, a ton of new code was written).

First, the folks at DMSolutions- Dan, Frank, Assefa and Jeff. Not only
do they maintain and support the PHP/MapScript code- they added OGR/GDAL
support, WMS client support and were largely responsible for WMS Server
support (amongst other things). Thanks guys.

Dave Blasby and the folks at Refractions Research contributed PostGIS
layer support.

Oracle Spatial support was recently added by Rodrigo Cabral of
CTTMAR/UNIVALI, Brazil.

PDF creation code was added by Jeff Spielberg and Jamie Wall of Market
Insite Group, Inc.

Tom Poindexter put together the very cool MapServer WorkBench that was
released against version 3.4 and hopefully will become compatible with
3.5 soon.

A number of users took the time not only to report bugs, but to track
down bugs and in many cases to send us patches. Your efforts are
invaluable to developing quality software- thanks!

Enough mushy stuff. Enjoy the new release and report bugs at
mapserver.gis.umn.edu/bugs.

Steve