OSGeo demo stack and operative services

[Arnulf Christl]

Hi Mark, Norman,
thank you for coordinating this. I don't know how much has been said 
already regarding the software stack. So this is talked at large (in 
German we say into the blue): We suggest to install and maintain a 
stable version of a basic stack. ('basic stack' refers to the below 
software list that most of our client's sites run as productive 
systems). The stack includes:
* PostgreSQl as database
* PostGIS as spatial extension
* MapServer as WMS
* GeoServer as WFS-T
* Mapbender and MapBuilder as WMS and WFS-T Client

We have this package running on FreeBSD, Debian, Ubuntu, SuSE, Mandrake, 
Gentoo (and probably some others including good old windoze). You will 
know which OS it should be.

MapServer automatically brings some HTML demos that just need to get set 
up. GeoServer packages with MapBuilder, so we'd have that one too almost 
automatically. They also provide for some demo data that could be moved 
into the PostgreSQL database. We'd throw in some Open/Free data for 
Germany (nothing special, just some very rough topography, 
infrastructure, place names and postal code polygons). Mapbender brings 
in a hundred OGC service URL that are operated all over the world. All 
of these would be added as records/features to both WFS and WMS service 
as rectangles (the corresponding bboxes) to serve as source for 
discovery and harvesting (delivery for the Public Geospatial Data 
Committee). A WMS getFeatureInfo request on MapServer would return the 
respective Capabilities URL and a description, the coresponding 
GeoServer WFS getFeature request additionally the bbox rectangle and 
some meta data. This could be enhanced with a Wiki page adding some 
human readable discussion for each service. We have started doing this 
at the Mapbender Wiki but as it is a central thing we suggest to move 
the efforts to the OSGeo right away.

Once this is set up and running it would be easy to derive/implement 
some services that could be operated as a foundation to the Public 
Geospatial Data Committee list/library (hey Jo).

One of the next services that we would suggest to get done is an OSGeo 
member WMS and WFS-T. Everybody who entered a coordinate to:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/All_Members
could easily be transferred as a WKT point to the PostgreSQL/PostGIS 
database and served as a map by MapServer and as WFS GML by GeoServer, 
display and editing can be done with Mapbender and MapBuilder. Something 
like that. All the projects have a user map (GRASS, Mapbender, 
GeoServer, MapServer, etc.) and the OSGeo should also have one.

I expect the demo and operative services to run on the same boxes. 
"Operative services" refers to WMS and WFS and later maybe catalog 
services etc. whichever content might want to be edited and maintained 
by the Geodata Committee.

To do this some tools might also be helpful, for example a phppgadmin to 
access the database, etc.

If you want us to lay hands on a box to get all the stuff installed and 
configured we simply need an account to get there. Thats all I guess.

Best regards,
Arnulf.