[mapserver-users] Try Again ... Large scale implementation

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Chris,

For your simple version, assuming you have data files that contain all
the polygons for the zip codes, it would not be hard to build a
dedicated app that takes the lat-lon and see what polygon it fars on. A
variant of this would be to take all the Zip Code centroids and find the
one closed to the lat-lon you were given. Either could be done very fast
on modest hardware.

I'll let other here speak on Mapserver which I'm sure is up to the task
you mention.

-Steve

Chris Casad wrote:
> 
> Ed:
> 
> Thank you for the response.  I'm glad you let me know that my question was
> very vague, I wasn't sure if no one could answer it or what.
> 
> As for more detail ...
> 
> The simple version:  The application in its simplest form would have a
> zipcode polygon vector layer that is used to return the zip/cityname where
> the lat/long point lies in.  For example, the front-end request would pass a
> lat/long and app would respond with the zip/cityname the lat/long resides
> in. For something this simple is there a better way then using MapServer?
> 
> The complex version:  The application in its complex form would have a
> zipcode polygon vector layer and a street line vector layer.  The front-end
> request would pass a lat/long and the app would respond with the
> zip/cityname and a zoomed in image around the lat/long point.
> 
> I understand that saying  "100's of hits per minute or per second" is a wide
> range. I guess I was just being broad in the fact that I was hoping to get
> some examples for others on what they need hardware wise if they have 100's
> per minute or per second.  Unfortunately you never really now whether you
> are going to get 100's per minute or 100's per second so I am trying to look
> at best and worst case scenarios. =)
> 
> I have seen a lot of threads about which is better ArcIMS or MapServer. And
> from what I have read MapServer is faster. But is that a simple one to one
> request comparison, where MapServer just draws a map faster?  If I have
> 100's of hits per second do I need to have 50 more servers to handle these
> requests than ArcIMS would need?  If so then it would probably be cheaper to
> pay for ArcIMS and to not have to deal with a large number of servers?
> Correct? Unfortunately I haven't noticed any threads about anyone using
> MapServer for large-scale implementations (hence my thread).  Also, I know
> that ArcIMS is somewhat easily scaleable if your hit counts increase. Can
> MapServer be just as easily scaleable if the need arises or is there a lot
> more coding you would have to do?
> 
> I would love to be able to use MapServer but I don't want to jump into the
> deep end not having any idea of what to expect using it.  I can get an
> estimate from ESRI for ArcIMS on how many servers are needed for certain
> large scale hit counts, I am hoping to get the same type of estimates or
> examples from users of MapServer so that I can hopefully use MapServer.
> 
> I hope this is a little more detailed. =)
> 
> Thanks
> Chris
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ed McNierney [mailto:ed at topozone.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 10:09 AM
> To: Chris Casad; mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> Subject: RE: [mapserver-users] Try Again ... Large scale implementation
> 
> Chris -
> 
> This is a pretty complicated question.  The short answer is, sure -
> MapServer can do that.  Most things could do it, depending on how much
> hardware you throw at them.
> 
> You don't do into a lot of detail, and that makes it really hard to
> answer your question well.  Saying "100's of hits per minute or even per
> second" is a load range of 60 times - there's a long way between 100
> hits a minute and 100 hits a second.  Do you know what your requirements
> will be?
> 
> You might not want to use MapServer for everything.  You mention using
> lat/long to return a city/zip, for example.  Depending on exactly what
> you're trying to do (do you need the exact zip code that point lies in,
> or do you need the nearest zip code centroid?) there might be other
> (better) ways to address that specific task.
> 
> What kind of data are you using?  Do you have a single vector layer, 14
> raster data layers, or 73 vector layers on top of a raster base map?
> There's a huge range in there.
> 
> There are lots of folks here willing to help, but if you can possibly be
> more specific about what your requirements are it will be MUCH easier to
> help.
> 
>         - Ed
> 
> Ed McNierney
> Chief Mapmaker
> TopoZone.com
> ed at topozone.com
> (978) 251-4242
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Casad [mailto:chris at casad.net]
> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 9:36 AM
> To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> Subject: [mapserver-users] Try Again ... Large scale implementation
> 
> Hello:
> 
> I would really like to be able to use MapServer for my project but I
> need
> some evidence that it can handle what I need!!
> 
> I was wondering if anyone has used MapServer for a large scale
> implementation where you could be having 100's of hits per minute or
> even
> per second.  It may or may not return an image. At the very least it
> would
> use a lat/long to return a city/zip.
> 
> Can MapServer handle a task like this?  Would we have to use a large
> number
> of servers to handle this number of requests?
> 
> Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Anyone have any
> real
> world implementations like this?
> 
> Thank you,
> Chris