[Mapserver-users] Layer interpolation

[Frank Warmerdam]

Aaron D. Hunt wrote:
> Has there ever been any thought on adding a interpolation object. What I 
> am thinking of is the ability to have point layer and then tell 
> mapserver to interpolation the data into a raster layer. The 
> interpolation could be done using some fast  inverse distance weighting 
> method.
> example:
> LAYER
>    TYPE   INTERPOLATION
>    DATA   point_shape_data
>    INTERPOLATIONITEM"[column]"
>    CLASSITEM "[pixel]"
>    INTERPOLATION
>           R_VALUE  4
>           RESOLUTION_UNIT   meter
>           RESOLUTION  5
>    END
>    CLASS
>        EXPRESSION ([pixel] < 64)
>        COLOR 0 0 0
>   END
>   CLASS
>        EXPRESSION ([pixel] >= 64 AND [pixel] < 128)
>        COLOR 255 0 0
>  END
> 
> END

Aaron,

This is an interesting idea, but in my mind it falls into the "MapServer is
not a GIS" category of putting too much analysis into MapServer itself.  Also,
point interpolation for any significant number of points can be pretty expensive
to do in a web mapping context.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent