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

[Stephen Lime]

Also remember, there is nothing magic about MapServer or IMS or any other web mapping application. If you have really high volume you're gonna need multiple servers no matter what software you use. I've not seen a single vendor adequately address scalability issues or how many simultaneous maps it can make. It's a tough question...

Steve

Stephen Lime
Data & Applications Manager

Minnesota DNR
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-297-2937

>>> Stephen Woodbridge <woodbri at mediaone.net> 11/19/01 11:43AM >>>
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