Table of Contents for
Web Mapping Illustrated

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Web Mapping Illustrated by Tyler Mitchell Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2005
  1. Web Mapping Illustrated
  2. Cover
  3. Web Mapping Illustrated
  4. A Note Regarding Supplemental Files
  5. Foreword
  6. Preface
  7. Youthful Exploration
  8. The Tools in This Book
  9. What This Book Covers
  10. Organization of This Book
  11. Conventions Used in This Book
  12. Safari Enabled
  13. Comments and Questions
  14. Acknowledgments
  15. 1. Introduction to Digital Mapping
  16. 1.1. The Power of Digital Maps
  17. 1.2. The Difficulties of Making Maps
  18. 1.3. Different Kinds of Web Mapping
  19. 2. Digital Mapping Tasks and Tools
  20. 2.1. Common Mapping Tasks
  21. 2.2. Common Pitfalls, Deadends, and Irritations
  22. 2.3. Identifying the Types of Tasks for a Project
  23. 3. Converting and Viewing Maps
  24. 3.1. Raster and Vector
  25. 3.2. OpenEV
  26. 3.3. MapServer
  27. 3.4. Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL)
  28. 3.5. OGR Simple Features Library
  29. 3.6. PostGIS
  30. 3.7. Summary of Applications
  31. 4. Installing MapServer
  32. 4.1. How MapServer Applications Operate
  33. 4.2. Walkthrough of the Main Components
  34. 4.3. Installing MapServer
  35. 4.4. Getting Help
  36. 5. Acquiring Map Data
  37. 5.1. Appraising Your Data Needs
  38. 5.2. Acquiring the Data You Need
  39. 6. Analyzing Map Data
  40. 6.1. Downloading the Demonstration Data
  41. 6.2. Installing Data Management Tools: GDAL and FWTools
  42. 6.3. Examining Data Content
  43. 6.4. Summarizing Information Using Other Tools
  44. 7. Converting Map Data
  45. 7.1. Converting Map Data
  46. 7.2. Converting Vector Data
  47. 7.3. Converting Raster Data to Other Formats
  48. 8. Visualizing Mapping Data in a Desktop Program
  49. 8.1. Visualization and Mapping Programs
  50. 8.2. Using OpenEV
  51. 8.3. OpenEV Basics
  52. 9. Create and Edit Personal Map Data
  53. 9.1. Planning Your Map
  54. 9.2. Preprocessing Data Examples
  55. 10. Creating Static Maps
  56. 10.1. MapServer Utilities
  57. 10.2. Sample Uses of the Command-Line Utilities
  58. 10.3. Setting Output Image Formats
  59. 11. Publishing Interactive Maps on the Web
  60. 11.1. Preparing and Testing MapServer
  61. 11.2. Create a Custom Application for a Particular Area
  62. 11.3. Continuing Education
  63. 12. Accessing Maps Through Web Services
  64. 12.1. Web Services for Mapping
  65. 12.2. What Do Web Services for Mapping Do?
  66. 12.3. Using MapServer with Web Services
  67. 12.4. Reference Map Files
  68. 13. Managing a Spatial Database
  69. 13.1. Introducing PostGIS
  70. 13.2. What Is a Spatial Database?
  71. 13.3. Downloading PostGIS Install Packages and Binaries
  72. 13.4. Compiling from Source Code
  73. 13.5. Steps for Setting Up PostGIS
  74. 13.6. Creating a Spatial Database
  75. 13.7. Load Data into the Database
  76. 13.8. Spatial Data Queries
  77. 13.9. Accessing Spatial Data from PostGIS in Other Applications
  78. 14. Custom Programming with MapServer’s MapScript
  79. 14.1. Introducing MapScript
  80. 14.2. Getting MapScript
  81. 14.3. MapScript Objects
  82. 14.4. MapScript Examples
  83. 14.5. Other Resources
  84. 14.6. Parallel MapScript Translations
  85. A. A Brief Introduction to Map Projections
  86. A.1. The Third Spheroid from the Sun
  87. A.2. Using Map Projections with MapServer
  88. A.3. Map Projection Examples
  89. A.4. Using Projections with Other Applications
  90. A.5. References
  91. B. MapServer Reference Guide for Vector Data Access
  92. B.1. Vector Data
  93. B.2. Data Format Guide
  94.  
  95. ESRI Shapefiles (SHP)
  96.  
  97. PostGIS/PostgreSQL Database
  98.  
  99. MapInfo Files (TAB/MID/MIF)
  100.  
  101. Oracle Spatial Database
  102.  
  103. Web Feature Service (WFS)
  104.  
  105. Geography Markup Language Files (GML)
  106.  
  107. VirtualSpatialData (ODBC/OVF)
  108.  
  109. TIGER/Line Files
  110.  
  111. ESRI ArcInfo Coverage Files
  112.  
  113. ESRI ArcSDE Database (SDE)
  114.  
  115. Microstation Design Files (DGN)
  116.  
  117. IHO S-57 Files
  118.  
  119. Spatial Data Transfer Standard Files (SDTS)
  120.  
  121. Inline MapServer Features
  122.  
  123. National Transfer Format Files (NTF)
  124. About the Author
  125. Colophon
  126. Copyright

Getting MapScript

How do you get MapScript? There are variety of methods, some easier than others. The common requirement for running MapScript is that the scripting language itself must be available. The header files for the language may also be required if building the MapScript modules from source code.

Building MapScript from Source Code

Building MapScript from source for each language isn’t detailed here, but there is a common approach.

To build MapScript for a language, support for that language must have been configured and built into MapServer itself when it was compiled. This sets up the various files in the MapScript language folders that are needed for the next step.

The MapServer source code directory structure includes a folder called mapscript. This folder has subsequent folders for each language that has some form of MapScript support. The folder may have a Makefile that is ready to be used by the make command, or it may have some setup scripts. Running these produces MapScript modules or libraries (depending on the language), and the scripts can often be used to help install them too. For example, with Python, you build and then install MapScript by running:

> python setup.py build
> python setup.py install

There are several other files and directories that are part of the Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator (SWIG) environment. SWIG is used to port MapScript to certain languages. This is now the standard method for producing a MapScript extension for additional languages. If you are familiar with SWIG and want to write a mapscript_wrap.c file for a new language, your contributions would be more than welcome. For more information on SWIG, see http://www.swig.org.

Compilation instructions are included in README files in the specific MapScript language folder. More information can be found in the MapScript and Reference Guides sections of the MapServer documentation page at http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/doc.html.

Obtaining Binary Versions of MapScript

Binary versions of MapScript are also available, depending on the programming language. The best place to get some personal direction is from the MapServer mailing list. These sites distribute various forms of MapScript:

Getting Help

Many first-time MapScript users need some hand-holding to get started. The previous links and the MapServer mailing list are good places to go for support. This chapter will show some simple examples to help get you started.