State Plane Virginia South Projection Question

[Kurt Ward]

Hi, new to the list and to MapServer, GIS, et. al..  I am NOT new
however to programming (and CAD if that helps?).
I have a project to develop that will display a relatively small map
(say Lake Michigan or comparable) and need the ability
to plot a path (line segments) based on GPS coordinates over a period of
time (2-3 days with a new line segment (or point) every hour).
Based on what I have read  so far, it seems MapServer would be a good
choice.  Correct?  If so, what recommendations can you provide
to help me over the learning curve?  I am planning on using the PHP
Mapscript interface and possibly Rosa and/or the SWF output and Flash.

Many thanks in advance.
Kurt