[Mapserver-users] How to make labels in MS with PostGIS

[Jan Hartmann]

Christian,

In MapServer CGI layers are only automatically shown when they have 
"STATUS DEFAULT". Layers with "STATUS ON" are only visible when they are 
explicitly named in the calling URL.

Really, can this FAQ (Frequently Answered Question) be documented in a 
prominent place? So many people on this list have been staring at a 
blank map and wondering what on earth was going on.

Jan Hartmann


Lowther, David W wrote:
> Christian,
> 
> You've got to get everything you need (geometry and attributes) into that
> data statement. I am using something that looks like this:
> 
> DATA "the_geom from (select oid,* from table) as foo"
> 
> HTH,
> 
> Dave
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: christian.schuster at rsag.ch [mailto:christian.schuster at rsag.ch] 
>>Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 11:03 PM
>>To: Paul Ramsey
>>Cc: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
>>Subject: Re: [Mapserver-users] How to make labels in MS with PostGIS
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Hi Paul,
>>
>>Sorry that I am coming back to you after few days. I am still 
>>not able to make labels. I am a newbie and I think it is a 
>>generall understanding problem of how the map file works. 
>>Below you see my layer definitions for the labels. There I 
>>have a big question about it. So I have a table called 
>>'geo3'. In this table I have a column as identifier which is 
>>called 'ID'. Then the second column is of type varcahr(20 and 
>>called 'NAME'. The last one is the geometry column. Now I can 
>>draw the map and all. Just the labels are not working. I am 
>>not sure what the tag 'DATA' has to look like. The way it is 
>>now, I just get back the geometry column. But what I would 
>>like is to have the column 'NAME' to use for labeling. If I 
>>change the tag 'DATA' to "NAME from geo3" then I would have 
>>this. But I do not know how MapServer knows where to draw the 
>>labels. If I change the tag 'DATA' to "* from geo" then I get 
>>an error. So I am quite confused. I also tried so many times 
>>already. if someone could solve my confusion would be really nice.
>>
>>LAYER
>>  NAME "labels"
>>
>>  ### Connect to a remote spatial database
>>  CONNECTIONTYPE postgis
>>  CONNECTION "user=*** dbname=myGISdb host=127.0.0.1 port=5432"
>>
>>  ### Get the labels from the table
>>  DATA "geom from geo3"
>>  STATUS ON
>>  TYPE ANNOTATION
>>
>>  LABELITEM "name"
>>
>>  CLASS
>>    EXPRESSION 'name'
>>    COLOR -1 -1 -1
>>    LABEL
>>      COLOR 0 0 0
>>      TYPE BITMAP
>>      SIZE MEDIUM
>>      POSITION CC
>>      PARTIALS FALSE
>>      BUFFER 2
>>    END # end of label
>>  END
>>END
>>
>>Christian Schuster
>>
>>Rudolf Schuster AG
>>Postfach 277
>>CH - 3000 Bern 11
>>
>>http://www.rsag.ch
>>++41 31 348 05 30
>>
>>
>>                                                              
>>             
>>             Paul Ramsey                                      
>>             
>>             <pramsey at refracti                                
>>             
>>             ons.net>                                         
>>          To 
>>                                       
>>christian.schuster at rsag.ch          
>>             31.01.2003 17:18                                 
>>          cc 
>>                                       
>>mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu   
>>                                                              
>>     Subject 
>>                                       Re: [Mapserver-users] 
>>How to make   
>>                                       labels in MS with 
>>PostGIS           
>>                                                              
>>             
>>                                                              
>>             
>>                                                              
>>             
>>                                                              
>>             
>>                                                              
>>             
>>                                                              
>>             
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Same as with any other data source. Declare a labelitem and 
>>add a label object to your class object. Should be examples 
>>in the map file reference page. The only potential gotcha is 
>>that your labelitem attribute should be given in lower case.
>>
>>christian.schuster at rsag.ch wrote:
>>
>>>Hi list,
>>>
>>>I have a table 'geo' with a geometry column, a column 'name' as
>>>varchar(20) and an ID column as the Primary Key. Is it 
>>
>>possible to use 
>>
>>>the text in the column 'name' as the label text and if so what does 
>>>the layer look like in the map file.
>>>
>>>Thanaks for helping
>>>
>>>Christian Schuster
>>>
>>>Rudolf Schuster AG
>>>Postfach 277
>>>CH - 3000 Bern 11
>>>
>>>http://www.rsag.ch
>>>++41 31 348 05 30
>>
>>--
>>       __
>>      /
>>      | Paul Ramsey
>>      | Refractions Research
>>      | Email: pramsey at refractions.net
>>      | Phone: (250) 885-0632
>>      \_
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>Mapserver-users mailing list
>>Mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu 
>>http://lists.gis.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/maps> erver-users
>>
> 
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Jan Hartmann
Department of Geography
University of Amsterdam
jhart at frw.uva.nl