dynamic base image for refernce map?

[Hunter, David - St. Louis Park, MN]

Using CGI Mapserver, I would like to create reference maps that have
their base images dynamically generated.  The app would be serving up
maps of fire districts.  I know the bounding boxes for each district, so
the user would select from a list and go to a map of that district.
Since there are approximately 40,000 fire districts in the U.S., it
won't be very practical to generate a .gif base image for each district.
What I really need is a thumbnail of the initial map extent, with an
overlay that shows the current view area.  

 

It doesn't look like I can pass the name of the base image file to a
reference map file, so I was wondering if there was another way to do
this.  Can I dynamically create an overlay layer with a transparent
polygon?  If so, which CGI parameter would I pass the overlay's vertices
in?  Or, do I have to do this all on the client side, drawing the box in
a layer over my thumbnail?  Can this be done with dbox.js?

 

David S. Hunter
Sr. Software Engineer
Fidelity National Geographic Solutions
division of Fidelity National Financial
5353 Gamble Drive, Suite 201
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
* Email: david.hunter at fnf.com
' Phone: 952.542.1440 ext. 256
* Fax: 952.542.3859

 

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