New Feature/Map project

[Vincent J. Troisi]

We are considering a new map project.
The proposed project is considering using minnesota mapserver.
The service enables a user to
1) search an inventory of point data based on geophysical parameters
and display the data on a base map
2) download the actual data from a specific region
3) provide the option to output in a shapefile, GML, KML or other
formats.

We're considering storing the point information in shapefiles and not
in a database. We'd also prefer not to implement the project in java.

Does anyone have a map client that provides similar functionality
(especially, for functions 2 and 3)? If so, are the map files and
templates freely available to us for customization?

Thanks.