[mapserver-users] OpenGIS CITE

Tue Aug 12 11:02:56 EDT 2003

Daniel,

   I think you are right.  ArcExplorer will display data from servers
supporting WMS v1.1.1 or later.  I tested ArcExplorer with 17 WMS urls
(switch to courier font to line things up in the table below):

WMS     ArcExporer 4.0.1 Java

Version Connects:  Shows Data:

                    ------  ----------------------
 1. NASA Landsat        http://wmt.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/wmt.cgi
1.0.0   YES             no
 2. GeoArctic Nunavut   http://www.geoarctic.com/cgi-bin/wmsgeomapcan
1.0.0   YES             "msWMSLoadMapParams(): Unsupported output format."
 3. B.C. prov WMS
http://slkapps2.env.gov.bc.ca/servlet/com.esri.wms.Esrimap
1.0.0   no
 4. Ontario MNR NFIS    http://lioib.lio.mnr.gov.on.ca/lioogc/default.asp
1.0.0   no
 5. Ontario MNR GeoLoc
http://lioib.lio.mnr.gov.on.ca/lioogc/OGC_ENV1_View.asp
1.0.0   no
 6. Agriculture Canada  http://linuxgurrl.agr.ca/cgi-bin/mapeco
1.1.0   no
 7. Atlas of Canada
http://cgdi-dev.geoconnections.org/cgi-bin/tomatlasmapper
1.1.0   no
 8. GeoScience K Net    http://cgkn.net/cgi-bin/mswms_cgkn
1.1.0   no
 9. DM Solutions        http://www2.dmsolutions.ca/cgi-bin/mswms_gmap
1.1.0   no
10. PCI demo data       http://gws.pcigeomatics.com/GWSApp/GeoWSServlet
1.1.1   no
11. Canada's Ag
http://dev.geographynetwork.ca/ogcwms/servlet/com.esri.ogc.wms.WMSServlet
1.1.1  YES             YES
12. Canada's Basemap
http://k12.esricanada.com/ogcwms/servlet/com.esri.ogc.wms.WMSServlet
1.1.1   YES             YES
13. CCRS
http://ceoware2.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/cubewerx/cubeserv/cubeserv.cgi
1.1.2   YES             YES
14. CTIS 1              http://wms.cits.nrcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/cubeserv.cgi
1.1.2   YES             YES
15. CubeWerx            http://www.cubewerx.com/demo/cubeserv/cubeserv.cgi
1.1.3   YES             YES
16. Iowa                http://komodo.gis.iastate.edu/server.cgi
graphic YES             no
17. Boston coast ortho  http://coast.mit.edu/wmtserver.cgi
graphic no

Basically not all servers do a good job of implementing the WMS spec, and as
you point out, the client apps (at least the two I tested) are not much
better.  I expect CITE will help the general situation, but it will take
some time.

As for the WMS_Version  keyword, I agree that it is not good practice, but
given the current chaotic state of servers and clients it may be useful.
The alternative is a wrapper script on the server.   Here's an ASP script to
"promote" Mapserver's version number (and take care of specifying the map
file, another problem):
========================================================
<%
strRequest = Request.ServerVariables("QUERY_STRING")

strURL =
"http://my.server.com/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\MySite\myma
pfile.map&" & strRequest

Dim objHTTP 'As MSXML2.XMLHTTP
Set objHTTP = Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.ServerXMLHTTP")
objHTTP.open "GET", strURL, false
objHTTP.send ""

pos = instr(ucase(strRequest),"REQUEST=GETCAPABILITIES")
if pos = 0 then pos = instr(ucase(strRequest),"REQUEST=CAPABILITIES")
if pos > 0 then
    str111 = replace(objHTTP.responseText,"WMT_MS_Capabilities
version=""1.1.0""","WMT_MS_Capabilities version=""1.1.1""")
    Response.Write str111 'objHTTP.responseText
else
    Response.BinaryWrite objHTTP.responseBody
end if

Set objHTTP = Nothing
%>
========================================================
Be advised, the script is not well tested, and is bad practice at least
until Mapserver truely supports v1.1.1.  On the other hand it does work well
with ArcExplorer.

Brent

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Morissette" <morissette at dmsolutions.ca>
To: "Brent Fraser" <bfraser at geoanalytic.com>
Cc: <mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu>
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] OpenGIS CITE

> Brent Fraser wrote:
> >
> >   How about an optional "WMS_Version " keyword for the metadata section
of
> > the WEB object in the map file?  If present, Mapserver would spit out a
> > <WMT_MS_Capabilities version='1.1.1'> tag (or whatever version was given
in
> > the map file).  We could use it to get around client/server WMS version
> > incompatibilies.  I realize you're working to implement v1.1.1 in
Mapserver
> > , but there could be other client applications coming out that support
only
> > v1.1.2, etc.
> >
>
> Unfortunately properly supporting version 1.1.1 is not as simple as
> changing the version tag at the top of the capabilities to say 1.1.1.
> There is probably not much more to it (I don't remember the differences)
> and changing the version number may be enough to fool the ArcExplorer
> client but shouldn't be considered a good practice.
>
> Actually, I'm a bit surprised that you were unable to connect since you
> wrote that both of your clients support WMS 1.0.0 (do they really?).
> MapServer does support V1.0.0 if the clients ask for that version... so
> if those clients did implement WMS version negociation properly then
> they would have picked version 1.0.0.  Note that very few clients
> implement WMS version negociation properly, I don't even think our
> MapLab package does... one more reason to not implement hacks in
> MapServer but instead work on fixing the clients to adhere to the spec.
>
> Daniel
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>   Daniel Morissette               morissette at dmsolutions.ca
>   DM Solutions Group              http://www.dmsolutions.ca/
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
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