[OSGeo BC] Interested in learning how to setup a web mapping program

[Tyler Mitchell (OSGeo)]

On 14-May-09, at 2:26 PM, Mark Blackmore wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I'm a GIS Technician working in Vancouver, and I would love to  
> learn more about web mapping tools. I have downloaded the latest  
> version of Mapserver but I'm have some difficulty in setting it up.  
> I have limited knowledge of web development (when I graduated from  
> University web mapping was still in its infancy). I'm wondering if  
> anyone out there can provide some user friendly guidlines or  
> training in using Open source GIS. Your help is greatly  
> appreciated. Thank you for your time.
>
> Mark Blackmore

Hi Mark, greetings from the Interior (aka Way Up There).  There are  
quite a few resources scattered around.  If you have a few loonies to  
spend, you might find my book useful [1] - it touches on most of the  
aspect of needing to get MapServer up and running.

Okay, sales pitch over.. Where are you getting stuck?  One approach I  
recommend (and wrote about) is using what used to be called MapServer  
for Windows. [2]  Are you using this package?  It is going to  
eventually be superceded by OSGeo For Windows package,[3] but I think  
both still work.

They both come with Apache web server preconfigured for your use.   
You can also install some sample MapServer applications and use those  
as starting points.

If you are using Linux, there are other options I can tell you about.[4]

Hope these give you a bit of direction.  More of us can probably help  
you as you move along and tell a bit more about how far you made it  
so far.  But in the meantime you may also want to search the OSGeo  
curriculum database to find courses that might help. [5]

I, along with a couple other power users, give a workshop each year  
at the FOSS4G conference event.[6]  It has an online workshop guide  
that might help you.  I also come to Vancouver every month or two.   
If there was interest in a MapServer Basics workshop I could help  
with that.

Best wishes,
Tyler

[1] http://oreilly.com/catalog/webmapping - Web Mapping Illustrated
[2] http://maptools.org/ms4w - MS4W packages
[3] http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo4w/ - OSGeo4W installer
[4] http://www.maptools.org/fgs/ - FOSS GIS Suite for Linux installer
[5] http://www.osgeo.org/educational_content - search for course  
material
[6] http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2008/paper/view/24 -  
Workshop material