Using Mapserver or other opensource GIS in web-based MIS

[li pan]

Hi, I am a newbie to GIS.
Our customer is building their simple web-based MIS, and some modules
require GIS functions.Basically what they want is to mark some buildings on
the map of city(they own many buildings locate on different sides of the
city), and to caculate the distance between them, their also want that by
clicking a building on the map, they will by linked to the webpage showing
their MIS's interface of the building.
We was planning to use MapInfo, but only the license expense of MapInfo's
webserver will exceed the total budget. So we are trying to find an
alternative way. We would prefer a J2EE solution(the MIS is written using
J2EE), but since the GIS is an isolated module, it would not be a big
problem.
Finally I found QGIS, Mapserver and other opensource solutions. I have
downloaded Mapserver and installed some Mapserver based applications( MapLab
etc.). And my question is, if we try to add simple GIS features(as described
above)  to our MIS, will Mapserver be the answer? or some Mapserver-based
application?
Thanks.
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