[Mapserver-users] Clueless newbie question

[Sean Gillies]

On Jan 7, 2004, at 8:56 AM, Jim Buzbee wrote:

>
> I've been working on a quick proof-of-concept using mapserver and 
> don't understand the process of creating a map file for some data I 
> acquired.
>
> I went to http://seamless.usgs.gov/ , selected a region and downloaded 
> a few large zip files that were identified as being in ArcGrid format. 
> They extracted to something like :
>
> 14195927/METADATA.DBF
> 14195927/METADATA.PRJ
> 14195927/METADATA.SHP
> 14195927/METADATA.SHX
> 14195927/METADA~1.HTM
> 14195927/14195927/
> 14195927/14195927.AUX
> 14195927/14195927/DBLBND.ADF
> 14195927/14195927/HDR.ADF
> 14195927/14195927/PRJ.ADF
> 14195927/14195927/STA.ADF
> 14195927/14195927/W001001.ADF
> 14195927/14195927/W001001X.ADF
> 14195927/INFO/
> 14195927/INFO/ARC.DIR
> 14195927/INFO/ARC0000.DAT
> 14195927/INFO/ARC0000.NIT
> 14195927/INFO/ARC0001.DAT
> 14195927/INFO/ARC0001.NIT
>
>
> Is there a tool available to convert this into something that 
> mapserver can use?  Or is there a better place to get some data?  Or 
> did I download the wrong thing?
>
> I'm working mainly on a Solaris box, but if I need to, I can do the 
> conversion under windows.  I have no commercial products available.
>
> Thanks for any hints.
>
> Jim Buzbee
>
>

Jim,

You will need the GDAL library to use rasters in MapServer.  GDAL will
read the ESRI ASCII raster, but if the data allows (is 8 or 24 bit),
get it from the USGS in TIFF format for better performance with
GDAL+MapServer.  If you are exploring the use of elevation rasters,
understand that MapServer does not support elevation as its own type
of data like other GIS systems.  You will need to convert your elevation
data into an 8 or 24 bit "picture" of terrain for use in MapServer.

See the Raster Howto under MapServer documentation for more details.

cheers,
Sean

--
Sean Gillies
sgillies at frii dot com
http://users.frii.com/sgillies