FW: Info on MapServer

[Stephen Woodbridge]

Kishor,

I would add to Frank's excellent assessment, that we have excellent 
support of PostGIS, a Postgresql spatial extension. It has significantly 
less connection overhead then Oracle and is OpenSource. It is also fully 
capable of doing multiple table attribute and spatial joins for 
rendering and querying. I also supports multi-user data updates for 
editing spatial data.

-Steve

P Kishor wrote:
> Good golly... this should be converted into a FAQ, or, into a "What
> you need to know about MapServer before you begin."
> 
> Very well explained answers Frank.
> 
> On 11/6/06, Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam at pobox.com> wrote:
>> Raj writes:
>> >    1. Is this a complete web based engine where we could offer a web
>> >       based solution on the same with around 200-300 users accessing 
>> the
>> >       application simultaneously for map viewing.
>>
>> Raj,
>>
>> MapServer will support 200-300 users with an appropriately configured
>> application, though I'd consider that a high load for a single machine
>> serving maps and you would likely need to be quite careful about how
>> your application is setup.
>>
>> I'm not sure what you mean by a "complete web based engine".  MapServer
>> is not a GIS and does not endevour to have a complete set of GIS
>> functionality.  You may also find you need a variety of related projects
>> to achieve some ends.  In particular there are many layered software
>> packages that can be used with mapserver to make building web 
>> applications
>> easier.  Packages such as CartoWeb, Chameleon, Mapbender, MapBuilder,
>> and ka-Map (as a few examples).  You will want to review some of these
>> higher level packages as part of your review of mapserver.
>>
>> >    2. Do you have any benchmarks on the map rendering speed on the web
>> >       with the above load? If so kindly furnish us the same.
>>
>> I do not, perhaps others do.  Generally speaking you are best off
>> doing some benchmarking yourself, and understanding that performance can
>> be very sensitive to a variety of issues (data organization, machine
>> memory, etc).
>>
>> >    3. Does the map engine support the following features.
>> >          1. Map navigating tools zoom in, zoom out, distance,  info
>> >             tool, auto pan, centering
>>
>> yes
>>
>> >          2. Does it support both vector and rastor map data set?
>>
>> yes
>>
>> >          3. Does it support MS-SQL and Oracle as backend database for
>> >             the attributes?
>>
>> Yes, though the normal MapServer model is for the attributes to be
>> conceptually stored with the spatial geometry.  Trying to do joins on the
>> fly can be problematic, especially in performance sensitive situations.
>>
>> Note that there is good Oracle Spatial support built in.  Access to
>> MS-SQL is via the OGR ODBC driver and can be considered weaker.
>>
>> >          4. Does it support animation layer? i.e. creating point 
>> objects
>> >             on the fly over web ?for eg. Vehicle tracking.
>>
>> I believe you would need to use a client side toolkit such as MapBuilder
>> to have AJAX style client side animation.  Or perhaps you just mean
>> rendering from dynamic datasets?  This is quite possible.
>>
>> >          5. Does it support radial distance / search?
>>
>> yes
>>
>> >          6. Does it support buffering for line and point objects?
>>
>> yes, though this is a new feature, I think accessible only in mapscript.
>>
>> >          7. Does it support editing the layers on the web – like
>> >             creating points, drawing lines etc.
>>
>> Generally speaking no, MapServer does not support feature editing well.
>> There are some environments (Mapbender?) that address this sort of need,
>> but I think they post changes back to transactional WFS'es like 
>> GeoServer.
>> Use of GeoServer as a WFS and MapServer as a WMS is a fairly common
>> configuration for such requirements.
>>
>> >          8. Does it have a distance calculator?
>>
>> I am not aware of one built in, though environments like Chameleon may
>> include this.
>>
>> >          9. Which is map data format supported? Does it support both
>> >             shape files (ESRI), MapInfo format as well Oracle 
>> spatial or
>> >             any other geo-database format.
>>
>> The "native" format is shapefiles (in the sense this is the original and
>> in many ways best optimized format), but Oracle Spatial is also well
>> supported.  Via OGR a variety of formats are supported including mapinfo
>> (mid/mif and tab), etc.
>>
>>    http://www.gdal.org/ogr/
>>
>> >    4. Does the map server have a licensing cost and does it have any
>> >       restrictions with respect to number of simultaneous users?
>>
>> No, sorry.  We are missing this feature.
>>
>> >    5. What is the level of support and documentation provided for a
>> >       serious user like us?
>>
>> I'd suggest you visit the mapserver website to judge the available
>> documentation.  If you want support you can call on the mapserver
>> mailing lists but for serious support you may consider contracting
>> with experienced mapserver consultants including firms like DM Solutions,
>> or MapGears, and individuals such as Steve Lime, or Howard Butler.
>>
>> I personally think that MapServer and related projects is a great 
>> solution
>> for consultants and integrators willing to spend some time learning 
>> MapServer
>> and who have the experience and knowledge to customize and extend things
>> when required.  This gives great flexibility in providing exactly the 
>> solution
>> a client needs, and ensures you aren't trapped into the licensing/pricing
>> scheme of a vendor who may be insensitive to your needs or the needs of
>> some of your clients.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> -- 
>> ---------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- 
>>
>> I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, 
>> warmerdam at pobox.com
>> light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
>> and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, 
>> http://osgeo.org
>>
> 
>