[Mapserver-users] [gis newbie] Using my own data.

[Norbert Thieme]

Nico Alberti schrieb:
> Hi everybody.
> 
> This is not exaclty a Mapserver related question, but instead a request
> for help understanding the basics of GIS information. Sorry about it.
> 
> I just set up a test installation of Mapserver and it seems it is working
> fine with the tutorial data provided.
> 
> The problem is that now I would like to try to publish my own data but, as
> I have no knowledge of the GIS world I am stuck simply trying to make
> Mapserver see a simple shp|dbf|shx set of files using the most basic
> template in the Tutorial. It seems that I need to give mapserver the
> correct value for the EXTENT and most of all for the projection data. For
> the first one I tried to use the "ogrinfo" utility as suggested in the
> tutorial, but I noticed, for example, that the values it gives feeding it
> with the tutorial data are different from those used in the corrisponding
> .map . Anyway using "ogrinfo" output in the EXTENT clause of my .map file
> makes mapserver builing only a blank image.
> 
> And about the projection issue I am helpless. Does some Esri program (that
> I can not access at this time) provide this kind of information?
> 
> I also tried to use some helper application like MapServer Workbenck but,
> even if the vector data are correctly displayed in MsShapeExplorer, the
> corresponding .map file has errors in it.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance and sorry for
> my poor English.
> 

Hello.

If you have a *.shp file you normaly should know its projection. 
Sometimes there is a *.prj with the *.shp. I might be wrong but I think 
the ogrinfo checks for the *.prj. Because you got no information from 
that I think you don't have one. Do you know the source of your data? 
Perhaps you can to ask the data provider.

But when you only want to show one *.shp (or some of the SAME 
projection) for the moment you can use the extent from orginfo in your 
mapfile but without giving any projection information to it. That should 
work for a first test.

But remember: You normally should use and know the right projection for 
the data.

If this don't work you should send your mapfile to the list.

Regards,
Norbert