MAPSERVER CAPABILITIES

[John M. Beck]

I am a new MAPSERVER USER with some PHP experience.  Can I import simple 
lat, long data from a CSV file into MAPSERVER and create a point shapefile?  If 
so, can I then clip this shapefile using another shapefile and have the resulting 
shapefile returned in the form of a MAP?  I am hoping this can be done 
through the php Mapscript tool.  Thanks in advance for your response.