time series representations in Mapserver

[David Bitner]

No, you do not need WMS at all.  It is just that Mapbuilder already
has a client interface set up that does time animations.

It is very possible to animations just using Mapserver.  All you need
in your mapfile is the ability to draw one single map for a single
time.  The way you do your animation is by calling that mapfile
several times to create different images with each different time (you
can control the time by using cgi variables and the %% notation in
either the filter or the postgis query for your layer with time
sensitive data as described in previous message in this thread) and
then use javascript to switch between those images.

On 6/28/05, Kevin Grootendorst <kgrootendorst at baird.com> wrote:
> So in order to view time series data (as an animation) within a mapserver
> application, I need to define the layer as a WMS layer?  Why can't I set up
> a non-WMS layer with Time support? (I guess because MS doesn't support that
> yet?)
> Does anyone have a valid/working .map file with time series support?
> 
> Kevin
> 
> 
> On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 16:21:43 -0500, David Bitner <osgis.lists at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> 
> >Gerry,
> >
> >Did you ever get anything figured out for this?  I just came upon this
> >thread again.  if you take Uli's reccomendation and go with the WMS
> >Time approach, you can build upon whats been done by the mapbuilder
> >folks (http://mapbuilder.sourceforge.net/). Otherwise if you look on
> >pure javascript resources for information on preloading images (just
> >manipulate the time string that you send to the map requests) and
> >animating them using javascripts setTimeout function.  Most of the
> >resources for this are for creating rotating banners on web pages, but
> >the idea holds perfectly well for creating animated maps.  I know a
> >couple NWS sites use this approach for radar.  I used this on the NWS
> >Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (http://www.nohrsc.nws.gov) site to
> >animate snow pack (not a mapserver backend, but same idea).
> >
> >David
> >> >
> >> > OK... that's a start.  However, I'm looking at weather observations,
> >> > usually they're from fixed sites (well, excluding the storm chasers:-).
> >> >   I'm wondering if anything's been done for animation-ish stuff, so I
> >> > could display the temperature contours, or, for instance, a changing
> >> > landscape of wind barbs...
> >> >
> >> > Thanks, Gerry
> >> >
> >> > David Bitner wrote:
> >> >
> >> >>If all you need is to show all of something that fit within a window
> >> >>of time on a single image (ie not an animation) you can either use sql
> >> >>statements with GDAL (I've not done this myself) or if you have your
> >> >>data in PostGIS all you need to do is add substitution variables into
> >> >>your SQL statement.
> >> >>
> >> >>For example, I display flight tracks at an airport using mapserver and
> >> >>I include a startdate and enddate as cgi variables sent to mapserver
> >> >>then in my mapfile use percent notation in my mapfile:
> >> >>DATA "targets from (select * from flighttrack where stime <= '%eDate%'
> >> >>and etime >='%sDate%')as tracks USING UNIQUE opnum USING SRID=-1"
> >> >>
> >> >>On 6/3/05, Gerry Creager N5JXS <gerry.creager at tamu.edu> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>>We're looking at several applications where we need some time-
> selection
> >> >>>capabilities.  Has anyone done this successfully with Mapserver, and
> if
> >> >>>so, might you share some tips?
> >> >>>
> >> >>>TIA,gerry
> >> >>>--
> >> >>>Gerry Creager -- gerry.creager at tamu.edu
> >> >>>Texas Mesonet -- AATLT, Texas A&M University
> >> >>>Cell: 979.229.5301 Office: 979.458.4020 FAX: 979.847.8578
> >> >>>Page: 979.228.0173
> >> >>>Office: 903A Eller Bldg, TAMU, College Station, TX 77843
> >> >>>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> geOps GeoInformatics
> >> D-79100 Freiburg
> >>
>