[mapserver-users] snap-to scale

[imap at chesapeake.net]

Over the past few years I been grappling with issues of tweaking
mapfiles to get the various scale to render correctly while giving
the user infinite zoom capability.  Its a tough task to make maps
display with the correct labelling, line widths and annotation.
Seems like the best mapfile configurations, are really big 
due to the granularity of the minscale/maxscale breakdowns for
N layers...  and in particular there are alot of issues with 
annotation font placement which are extremely difficult to control 
with a minscale/maxscale configuration.  Do you know what I mean?

I am thinking about coming up with a scheme that will 1) take 
a set of extents and adjust them to conform to either a pre-set
zoom levels or scales, or 2) re-design the apps to render using
a center point and mapscale (or maybe miles/km conversion)

Im thinking that if I set up 10 or so preset zoom levels, and
round extents the conform specifically to my mapfile parameters,
it would be easier to manage and improve the quality of the images
rendered.  

So anyway, I thought I would solicit some ideas to come up with the
simplest solution to make mapserver snap-to preset mapscales that
align with my mapfile layer objects.  hmmm

Regards,

Chris Stuber (mapsurfer)
Silicon Mapping Solutions, Inc