[Mapserver-users] Shapelib, GPC, PHP, and polygon clipping

[Ryan, Adam]

Steve, Frank, etc...

A while back Steve Lime wrote in response to a request for polygon clipping
code.

http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/data2/wilma/mapserver-users/0201/msg00094.html

He suggested using the GPC library.  I checked this out and was able to get
it to work.

Is it worth trying to use GPC with either PHP mapscript or shapelib directly
and  write a little routine to grab the shapes in question, convert them to
gpc ascii format, run the clip operation, and convert back to a shapefile
result?  In PHP I could build the ASCII files, then call a gpc executable,
and then translate the ASCII result back into a new shapefile.

Am I exploring old technology?  Is there a better way?  Seems like a lot of
steps but all the really hard work has been done and it's just a matter of
reformatting data to work with the different tools.

I'd like to explore PostGis but we're a Windows shop and it's not in the
cards.

Thank you for any suggestions you might have,

Adam Ryan
GIS Analyst
Linn County GIS Department
Albany, OR 97321
aryan at co.linn.or.us