MapServer vs. Deegree

[Silke Reimer]

On Fri, Aug 12, 2005 at 09:51:08AM -0700, Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> > > Is there any reason why I should choose MapServer over Deegree?
> > It
> > > seems to
> > > based on legacy technologies (C, CGI) yet most of the recent GIS
> > > development
> > > books around seem to use it in their examples?
> 
> The reason I use MapServer is because it can do so much more than
> just OGC specifications and for a Java server noob like me, it was
> easy to get started.  MapServer for Windows (MS4W) and FGS (linux
> installer) make the MapSever easy to get going.   But I know those
> who are comfortable with java servers and such have similarly easy
> approaches.
> 
> Can someone tell me if Deegree ONLY does OGC/ISO specs or does it
> do others as well?

Yes, deegree does "only" OGC/ISO specs but if you look at the WMS
spec you can do a lot of things when you follow the specification
1.1.1 in full scale. The UMN MapServer does not support User Layers
for example which enables you to define further layers to be drawn
on the map. Furthermore deegree follows all OGC-specifications which
are necessary to build up a SDI while the UMN MapServer "only"
support WMS and basic WFS and WCS - and will probably not go much
further.

To come back to the initial questions: In my oponion there are
situations where I would choose the UMN MapServer over deegree and
vice versa.

If you want to set up a full SDI you often need more than just a WMS
or a basic WFS, but also a Catalog Service, a WFS-Gazetteer etc. In
those cases I prefer deegree since
- I only have to install 1 tool
- the deegree is designed to build up complex SDI whereas
  OGC-support has been added later to the UMN MapServer which leads
  to some strange situations when configuring the UMN MapServer. (for
  example it is not obvious that you need to define a - not even
  existent - template in a layers class if you want to make the
  layer queriable in the WMS).

The UMN MapServer otherwise has much more documentation and -
meanwhile - a lot of poeple around who know how to configure the UMN
MapServer which leads to local user lists etc. Hence it is much
easier to get help even in your mother language - which is at least
in Germany rather important.

Furthermore I like the possibility to script the UMN MapServer -
which is not possible with deegree as far as I know. 

These are some aspects when you want to compare deegree and UMN
MapServer. Surely there are others as well as prefered programming
language etc.

	Silke 

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