[mapserver-users] Mapserver vs Geoserver

[Andrea Aime]

pcreso at pcreso.com ha scritto:
> 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.

Yup, true. GeoServer is starting to have something like that with
namespace filters:
http://geoserver.org/display/GEOS/GSIP+44+-+Virtual+services+with+workspaces
(available only in trunk builds).

> 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.

I think you're talking about a combination of available functionality:
http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/styling/sld-extensions/substitution.html
and soon to be available one:
http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/GEOT-2123
http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/GEOS-3922

But yeah, GeoServer has been quite lacking in this respect for a lot
of time.

Cheers
Andrea