[mapserver-users] MapServer vs ArcGIS server

[Wang, Ya]

Mike:
Thank you very much for the sharing. It is really great information. I have another question now.  How does MapServer compare with ArcGIS server in terms of providing API or service layers to support the enthusiasm of the online development community?

Regards,

Ya





-----Original Message-----
From: Smith, Michael ERDC-RDE-CRREL-NH [mailto:Michael.Smith at erdc.dren.mil] 
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2012 5:26 PM
To: Wang, Ya; mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [mapserver-users] MapServer vs ArcGIS server

Ya,

MapServer is cgi (or fastcgi). So it doesn't hold data in memory like
ArcGIS Server does. Also, each MapServer session (since its cgi) is
independent of each other so there is no service to go down. As long as
Apache is running, so is MapServer.

I find that MapServer scales much better for large numbers of request and
multiple maps. ArcGIS Server does well with smaller data sets and less
services (due to ram issues). ArcGIS server can be faster to start with,
since you are composing your maps graphically, but I find the MapServer
mapfile editing much (much) faster for repetitive operations. I can script
and copy/paste and (with includes) reuse more styling. With ArcGIS Server,
for anything other that setting basic colors, I find it much slower and
quite tedious.

I find that MapServer works at small or large scale, I run into issues
with ArcGIS server at large scales (lots of data and lots of services).

Then there is the fact that ArcGIS will change on you over time and the
whole architecture can go away and any time. In the time we have been
doing MapServer (coming up on 12 years now), ESRI has gone through 6
different (and incompatible) web mapping engines. Our mapserver stuff
still works. Something to think about when you are in it for the long haul.

Also, when something critical has come up and I need a fix NOW, I have
both made my own code changes and requested fixes from the community and
had responses within hours (sometimes minutes). That is just not possible
with ArcGIS Server. MapServer has a truly impressive community with both
enthusiasts and mature business providing development and support
(MapGears and Gateway Geomatics are two that I am very familiar with and
they are top notch).

We are a government agency and MapServer is production code for us, for
over a decade. And we serve out a lot of data with it.

Mike

-- 
Michael Smith

US Army Corps
Remote Sensing GIS/Center

   

On 7/3/12 8:50 PM, "Wang, Ya" <Ya.Wang at vta.org> wrote:

>Hello All,
>
>I am  wondering if any of you have experience with both MapServer and
>ArcGIS server. How does MapServer compare with ArcGIS server? Besides the
>fact that MapServer is more customizable and more extensible and less
>expensive, what other advantages do MapServer have against ArcGIS server?
> 
>
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>Ya
>
>
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