[Mapserver-users] Cookie Cutter technique

[Arnulf Christl CCGIS]

...
> A related question:
>
> I assume that reducing the geographical scope of a shapefile will reduce
> the burden on Mapserver (eg: I am working with the road network for all
> of Australia; I'm only interested in a couple of hundred square miles).
>
> I would like to be able to use Mapscript (preferably with Perl) to take
> a shapefile, define top left/bottom right of a rectangle and create a
> new shapefile covering only that area - pretty much what I think Stephen
> is saying, only I just want the one layer.
>
> Cheers
>
> M

Hi,
maybe it would be a good idea for you to check out the possibilities of
using PostgreSQL/PostGIS instead of plain shapefiles. We have very good
experience not only considering performance demands but also overall
handling of the vector data.
Additionally it is very comfortable to import and export shapefiles in any
combination or spatial extension by just putting together an SQL select.

Cheers,
Arnulf Christl