Using MapServer for a self-service wind energy resource app? (or solar, microhydro, etc)

[dnrg]

Seems that TrueWind Solutions LLC in New York
dominates the market for providing interactive wind
resource mapping over the web - and that, from what I
can tell, they use ArcIMS.

I will be doing some pro-bono work this summer,
helping my alma mater get their wind data on the web.
This should help them receive less phone calls of
people asking "is the wind resource on my parcel
sufficient for a residential wind turbine to power my
home?"

The University in question does have an ESRI site
license, but I suppose:

1) Things change. That may not last forever. Don't
want to build an app on a foundation that may
disappear

2) I'm assuming, by its open source nature, that
MapServer is far more extensible than IMS

3) Seems like there are good MapServer hosting ISPs
that aren't too terribly expensive the same probably
isn't  true with IMS hosting. [Anyone here ever use
GISHosting.net, and is it true that they only support
Python 2.1?!? (a deprecated version of Python no
longer supported by Guido van R)]

Can anyone refer me to MapServer sites that are
currently serving wind resource data over the web? (or
solar, hydro, etc) I would like to compare the
functionality of renewable energy MapServer sites with
what the TrueWind architected / IMS sites have to
offer.

Since I am investing heavily in Python for ESRI
work-related projects, I would also prefer to go with
the internet mapping product that is more extensible
using Python. I think Python is underutilized in
ArcMap ... it's a far more capable language than ESRI
seems to credit it for.

Thanks very much.

Spatially,

Dana
 


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