New User - What to start with: Unix or Windows

[Ken Lord]

If it suits your needs, you can also use ESRI Personal Geodatabases as
a spatial data source with the recent versions of mapserver (with
GDAL1.3.1),  through the OGR connection, thanks to additions to the
code by Frank Warmerdam a few months ago.

Cheers,
Ken






On 1/21/06, Puneet Kishor <punkish at eidesis.org> wrote:
> On Jan 21, 2006, at 7:03 PM, Maggie Ma wrote:
>
> > Hello Puneet,
> >
> >  Thank you very much for your advice.
> >
> >  The reason why I mentioned ArcGIS is because most of my spatial data,
> > in the future, will still be generated by ArcGIS. And as I understand,
> > MapServer is only something that will help me to display the map
> > online. (I dont have enough knowledge about MapServer at this moment
> > to be 100% sure about this statement tho :P)
>
> I thought so, and you are correct about your assumptions vis a vis
> MapServer.
>
> >
> >  My current understanding is that I will generate maps and spatial
> > data using ArcGIS and let MapServer to display them on the web. So I
> > may work switching between ArcGIS and MapServer a lot.
>
> You are mostly correct. You would generate spatial data using ArcGIS.
> Once you have done so, you can also generate maps using ArcGIS,
> especially complicated cartographic products. But you will need
> MapServer (or, heaven forbid, that other map server) to display that
> data on the web. If your GIS data are in Shapefile format, you can use
> them with MapServer on Windows or *nix or Mac OS X without any problem.
> If your  data are in some other format (ArcSDE, GeoDatabase), you would
> have to change your approach accordingly.
>
> >
> >  So I want to choose an OS where both ArcGIS and MapServer are
> > installed and both work efficiently. It'd be a pain to change the
> > platform later on, I think.
> >
>
> My original advice still stands. The biggest source of inefficiency is
> going to be you, the author/manager/administrator of the system. You
> can minimize that inefficiency by working with the operating system and
> platform that you are most comfortable with, unless some special
> circumstances dictate your choice.
>
> Windows should be just as fine as any other platform as long as you are
> aware of its limitations -- unless you are comfortable with compiling,
> and have a compiler, you will likely depend on binaries compiled by
> others. They are usually freely available, and if you have special
> needs, probably someone somewhere will happily help you. Also, keep in
> mind, MapScript support may be limited, but as I said, most Windows
> folks seem to work with PHP for creating their web apps. Of course, you
> can create pretty good web apps without a stitch of MapScript -- the
> galleria has some fine examples of pure CGI apps, with some very clever
> DHTML/CSS front-ends.
>
> The *nix world brings its own goodies. Every machine has all the
> compilers you usually need, you are expected to "roll your own," and
> you have generally more control over how things work.
>
> Stay with what you know, learn the ins and outs, create smashing
> applications, and you can always migrate later.
>
>
> > Puneet Kishor <punkish at EIDESIS.ORG> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Dear all,
> >> >
> >> > I am a new user of MapServer. I have been using ArcGIS desktop for a
> >> > few years. Now I want to do some online mapping. I just start to
> >> look
> >> > into MapServer. And I need your input on whether I should start with
> >> > Unix or Windows MapServer.
> >> >
> >> > The concern is to do it right/the best from the very beginning. I am
> >> > not afraid of learning Linux/Unix. I know some basics. But since I
> >> > have always been working with ArcGIS under Windows, I want to make
> >> > sure that it worths it to switch. If it wont make much difference
> >> then
> >> > I will just stay with Windows.
> >> >
> >> > So shall I go : Windows MapServer + Windows ArcGIS or Linux
> >> MapServer
> >> > + Linux ArcGIS or even Linux MapServer + Windows ArcGIS?
> >> >
> >> > What's the best way to start?
> >>
> >> Unless you have any reason to switch (a specific tech that is
> >> available
> >> on one OS but not on the other; pointy-haired-boss, etc.), stay with
> >> the operating system that you know and are comfortable with. That way
> >> you will not make your life more complicated than it has to be. You
> >> will notice that MapServer runs equally competently on whatever
> >> platform you choose, albeit some aspects of it (SWIG/MapScript) might
> >> be hobbled on Windows. Most Windows folks seem to go with PHP anyway,
> >> and there is a pretty active following of that.
> >>
> >> That said, you are mixing some technologies here. Are you planning to
> >> leverage ArcGIS somehow? I am curious as to why you are mentioning
> >> ArcGIS and MapServer in the same sentence.
>
>
> --
> Puneet Kishor
>