[mapserver-users] Mapserver vs Geoserver

[pcreso at pcreso.com]

Hi,

There are differences, like (as you note below) if you require WFS-T then mapserver will not be of much use. Most differences are due to the java vs cgi underlying approaches. The config gui for geoserver is nice, but a bit of experience scribbling (or cut'n pasting) mapfiles means the gui is not that big a difference (IMHO)

The fundamental difference for me is that every mapserver mapfile effectively instantiates a new OGC service provider with its own set of layers, geoserver, however, is a single monolithic service providing all defined layers in the one URL.

 I want a single server providing lots of custom WMS/WFS services, from mostly PostGIS databases, but also raster tilesets, shapefiles, etc... Mapserver provides this (at present) far more easily than geoserver - so my choice is simple.

Also, last time I looked, Mapserver works more effectively than Geoserver with PostGIS. For example, the mapserver pre-processor with variable substitution allows me to provide a mapfile with a single layer, say querying a table of recorded species locations with 1200 species, in a single query: " ... where species ='%SPP%' ...". The URL querying the service can pass in the value mapserver will use in place of SPP when the query is passed to Postgis.

So a single query (layer) in a mapfile provides access to 1200 available layers. AFAIK, geoserver cannot provide this sort of functionality & flexibility with both embedded SQL queries specifying a layer content & runtime variable substitution.

Those are the differences that in my case make mapserver more appropriate. Future versions of geoserver may tip the balance :-)

HTH,
  
  Brent Wood


--- On Thu, 4/15/10, mani ., <mani2604 at gmail.com> wrote:

From: mani ., <mani2604 at gmail.com>
Subject: [mapserver-users] Mapserver vs Geoserver
To: mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org
Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 6:07 PM



Hi everyone,       Well  I've been  working on Mapserver for a couple of weeks now. Now  I was supposed to checkout Geoserver too.. I was wondering if anyone who has worked on both of 
them could help me figure out with a point or two as of how mapserver is superior to Geoserver... I've got a few points gathered.
-=- Plz fill me in with any thing that comes to your mind. I really wanna the differences , be it the basic things, simplicity or complexity or whatever..............
Thanks,

Mapserver && Geoserver


1. MapServer is generally better when dealing with WMS, while GeoServer deals better with WFS.
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.
3. Mapserver works with CGI, GeoSever with J2EE. That may entail some advantage to GeoServer, since some companies don’t want to work with CGI.
4. MapServer is a more mature project (1996), while GeoServer is a bit more recent (2003).
5. GeoServer has a web tool administration that eases configuration.
6. MapServer has without any doubt a very powerful cartography system, providing data under dynamic vectors with high quality
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
 

 

 

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