[Mapserver-users] displaying images of globe in a webpage.

[Tom H]

Hi group,

this might be slightly off topic, but I have got some very helpful replies from
this group, and I hope you will give me some leeway to ask this quick(ish) question.

I have a web application that is used in a website for travellers and backpackers.
I am using mapserver to display some maps of Australia and New Zealand dependent
on the towns in which I am displaying information, and this is going very well.

However I have been asked by the site owner to show a rpresentation of a globe 
centred on the part of the world the the section of the site relates to.
This is the sort of thing I am trying to achieve on the splash page for australia;
http://www.scriptsupport.co.uk/images/globe.png

Unfortunately that is a static image from a desktop application (XatelliteShape), 
and I need to display  something like that for 20 locations in Australia and 5 in 
New Zealand, and soon in various other places like India and the Philippines.

Mapserver does not seem to extend to these sorts of images, so the question is,
is there another product like mapserver that can be configured to output a jpeg
or png image of a globe like that if I pass it coords for the required location.

I'm getting a bit desperate on this so I would be happy to consider commercial software
for the solution (sorry to any open source die hards, but needs must as the devil drives 
etc)

Thanks in advance,

T.