[mapserver-users] Mapserver vs Geoserver

[Rahkonen Jukka]

Hi,
 
I agree especially with your 7th point, in real life things are seldomly
just black or white.  
 
>  1. MapServer is generally better when dealing with WMS, while
GeoServer deals better with WFS. 
Well, they have some differences in WMS but I wouldn't say one is better
than another.  I agree partly when it comes to WFS, at least it is
easier to set up Geoserver WFS so that ready made WFS clients are
willing to discuss with it.  However, I add some conditions
 
- I have not played a lot with Mapserver WFS so I do not know all the
tricks.
- I have felt that Mapserver WFS works quite nice when I send requests
through a browser or wget ot something, and most problems are due to WFS
clients which do not want to parse the gml.  Clients tend to be
over-sensible for my mind.
- Unfortunately that is a common phenomena, clients developed against
deegree WFS do not work properly against Geoserver WFS or Mapserver WFS
and so on.
 
>  2. A big difference is that GeoServer supports WFS-T, that it
Transactional WFS (editing of feature services on the client side),
while MapServer don't. 
- That's true.
 
>  4. MapServer is a more mature project (1996), while GeoServer is a
bit more recent (2003). 
They are both mature enough for me.
 
>  5. GeoServer has a web tool administration that eases configuration. 
That is also true.  There used to be a MapLab application alongside
Mapserver and that helped me to take my first steps with Mapserver but
now it is gone.  I believe that without MapLab I wouldn't have started
to play with Mapserver ever.
 
>  6. MapServer has without any doubt a very powerful cartography
system, providing data under dynamic vectors with high quality 
Mapserver may have more advanced cartographical features but Geoserver
can look good also.  Creating good looking cartography is an artistic
job.  Geoserver is using SLD for styling which is the OGC standard way.
 
>  7. None of them is better or worse. The development objectives are
different. 
>  8. PHP Mapscript for Mapserver, which provides a powerful scripting
interface for PHP programmers. For Java programmers, Geoserver might be
a better choice
I believe that Geoserver does not really offer the same kind of
possibilities to build interactive server side application with
scripting.  However, quite a lot can be done by making a client to
combine WMS GetMap, WMS GetFeatureInfo and WFS requests.
 
I add a few other differencies which I have faced myself.
 
9.  Text based mapfile vs xml.  For a user whose first sight on a
computer screen was a green DOS:> prompt, reading and writing text based
mapfiles may feel easier than xml stuff in the data_dir of Geoserver.  
 
10. The same text keen users may prefer writing Geoserver CQL filters
(see for example
http://lyceum.massgis.state.ma.us/wiki/doku.php?do=export_xhtml&id=cql)
when testing http GET queries instead of OGC standard filters buried
inside SLD_BODY.  On the other hand, Mapserver offers same kind of
possibilities with variable substitution.
 
11. For mapserver a mapfile means a service.  Geoserver is in running
one WMS/WFS/WCS service for all users.  Layers can be filtered by using
the security subsystem, but it is not at all as flexible than creating
separate mapfiles for different users or user groups.
 
12. Geoserver has an installer that installs the server, demo data, demo
applications, and graphical user interface for administrating the
server.  What is best is that nightly builds are also available, and
Windows users can achieve and install them with ease.  It is about the
same as getting a new MS4W version every day.
 
-Jukka Rahkonen-
 
 
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