[mapserver-users] Newbie questions re shape files and point data

[Lowell Filak]

Just as background information: The data we have retrieved from ESRI's site/cd's before is in projection=geographic & units=decimal_degrees
as opposed to the lat/lon data that you have for the boat positions. You will need to define a projection for your mapfile and also a projection for the layer that contains the boat coordinates. There is a lot of discussion regarding projections in the archives, a list of projections at http://www.remotesensing.org/geotiff/proj_list/ , and the proj.4 homepage is at http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/ which should be helpful.
I also wonder if a certain user @ indigo.ie may have some more specific information regarding your problem that may aid you (hint...hint...).
Lowell F.

The following message was sent by Andrew Elwell <andrew at elwell.org.uk> on Sat, 1 Jun 2002 21:19:54 +0100.

> Hi folks,
> 
> I've downloaded mapserver 3.5 and sucessfully got the demo up and
> running (after changing to .png) on a debian box.
> 
> However I DON'T have a GIS background so am now stuck...
> 
> What I'm trying to achieve is a UK coastline map, with boat tracking
> positions marked on it. (see http://www.oytscotland.org.uk)
> 
> I've managed to get a shapefile for the UK from esri's website,but it
> looks "squashed" - Is this because I haven't set extents?
> 
> I have a mysql database of lat / lon (WGS84) positions for the boat
> since the start of the season. I assume these will be plotted as points?
> 
> If so, how do I create a layer containing the positions for a particular
> voyage.
> 
> I'm more than happy to teach myself, if someone can point out some
> useful URLs.
> 
> The other option I wondered about (rather than mapserver) was to use
> GRASS and generate an image for each voyage. However, I also know
> nothing about GRASS (yet...)
> 
> Many thanks for any advice,
> 
> Andrew