Woodward I.T. MapServer

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MapServer is an OpenSource development environment that provides online access to spatial data and imagery. MapServer was originally developed by the University of Minnesota and is distributed under a license that allows anyone to deal in the software without restriction.

Woodward IT now offers consultancy in MapServer for the development of web-enabled GIS applications for the internet or intranet. The MapServer environment allows organisations to rapidly create a GIS web presence without the initial costs of purchasing proprietary GIS software and a web server. MapServer has already been integrated into two solutions developed by Woodward IT: OASIS and Communicator.

The major benefits of MapServer are that it works in any environment (Linux, UNIX, Windows, Mac) and can utilise a variety of different GIS map formats and image formats.

The sample images on this page were captured from a demonstration application built using MapServer. The application was developed on a RedHat linux box running the Apache web server, PostgreSQL database and PHP web programming language.

For featured information on MapServer, you should visit the MapServer home page. For example sites running MapServer, you should click here

Woodward IT now specialises in the installation, configuration and development of the MapServer product. You should contact us to see how MapServer can benefit your organisation.

As MapServer can be configured as a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) process, it is possible to develop any number of different interfaces in different languages. The sample application is written in DHTML/JavaScript, but there is no reason that a Java, C++, Visual Basic or Delphi client can not be developed.

MapServer also comes with a dedicated PHP scripting component called MapScript. This allows web pages to be put together quickly using predefined functions in a popular scripting language.

MapServer is able to display GIS data in a variety of formats. Undoubtedly, the fastest method is to load spatial information into PostgreSQL and using the PostGIS extension, stream data to MapServer, not unlike the ArcSDE product.

MapServer will also natively read and display the following:

ESRI shape files, ArcInfo coverages
ESRI ArcSDE, Oracle spatial
MapInfo TAB and MID/MIF
Microstation DGN
TIFF/GeoTiff
PNG, JPEG, Erdas Imagine, ECW

MapServer comes with handy symbology management and configuration. All maps and layers are managed through a single configuration file which allows for different types of symbology to be based on regular expressions or database values.

There is also the ability to use true-type fonts for labelling of map layers. MapServer is capable of performing label collision detection and rotation.

The MapScript component of MapServer allows you to incorporate other spatial functionality into your web pages. You can perform selections on map layers using a variety of methods, create shapes on the fly or the find the closest feature.

The ability to use PHP to build your web pages allows you to develop enhanced GIS functionality without writing a million lines of code. You can control all aspects of MapServer from your HTML page.