[mapserver-users] ArcIMS Gateway

[Paul Ramsey]

Mapserverers,

  We have started playing with ArcGIS 8.1 and were pleased and
interested to note that it supports adding an "Internet Server" as a
data layer. ESRI is certainly picking up the "distributed GIS" ball.
There is, of course, one small catch: when ESRI says "internet server"
they mean "ArcIMS server". :)

  ESRI actually packages a little module with ArcIMS which sits in front
of IMS and turns OGC Web Map Server requests into IMS-style requests.
Basically a WMS emulator. I was thinking that it would be useful to have
an emulator which does the reverse: sits in front of a WMS server and
turns IMS-style requests into WMS requests -- an IMS emulator. That way
people could use WMS servers for external data serving and still be able
to add those WMS layers to ArcGIS projects.

  So (1) has anyone already done this? and (2) does anyone see any
notable pitfalls in doing so?

Paul