Eric,
We at Mapping Solutions have been working with HTTP SOAP web services
for the last 12 months now. We developed some JAVA web service classes
(using the AXIS libraries) around MapXtreme JAVA, MapMarker and Routing J
Server to allow complete interoperability with all our other client
applications whether they be Web based solutions (written in ASP,ASP.NET or
JSP) or our thicker client applications written in VC++ or VB. As long as
the consumer of the application can encode and decode HTTP SOAP XML
responses and requests it can consume the web service. I guess what I did 12
months ago was a mini version of what MapInfo are currently developing with
their Envinsa 'Location Platform' product line.
OGC WMS and WFS are not HTTP SOAP based web services as such but
industry defined standards for making spatial data available over the
internet. A good thing about the standard is that you in theory only have to
write the consumer/client side once and then you can access all web servers
that are WMS and WFS compliant (as i said in theory!). The request to the
WMS is sent as a QueryString concatenated as part of the URL; it is sent to
the web server by invoking the HTTP POST verb. For example:
http://terraservice.net/ogcmap.ashx?version=1.1.1&request=GetMap&Layers=doq&Styles=&SRS=EPSG:4326&BBOX=-90.1,29.8619396296772,-89.830357258423,30&width=800&height=500&format=image/jpeg
returns an image from the TerraServer-USA WMS. One drawback of the initial
specifications of the WMS standard is that it didn't have any built in
authentication. It was great if your data was free and in the public domain
but for premium providers it was a major concern. I believe this is being
addressed by the OGC in future releases of the specification.
Since the ESRI ArcWeb Services are SOAP based web services there is
nothing to stop you mixing and matching them with your MapXtreme
applications. If you are requesting an image you would send the request to
the appropriate render service which I believe is called the "Map Image Web
Service" and it returns a URL of the generated image; you would then
georeference it 'on the fly' and add it into your MapXtreme layers. As you
zoom and pan around the map you would make additional requests to get the
appropriate dynamic image. One thing to be careful of is requesting the
image in the same projection as your MapXtreme 'map' renderer. As well as
requesting maps your application could easily make use of the geocoding and
routing services that are part of the ArcWeb Services suite.
With some programming you can actually access SOAP web services with the
current version of MapInfo Pro. Our TerraViewer product, which runs within
MapInfo Pro, actually utilizes 3 web services. 1 OGC WMS to get the publicly
available USGS aerial imagery, another SOAP based web service to get
additional information on that USGS imagery and another locally hosted SOAP
based web service to authenticate and log requests to our premium imagery
content provider. That web service in turn calls GlobeXplorers' ImageBuilder
API over the web by passing an encrypted propitiatory 'query string' URL to
their web servers!!!
I hope this gives you a brief(!) insight on how you might be able
utilize both OGC and SOAP based web services within the MapInfo environment.
I can be done...just think 'outside' the box!
Cheers,
Dave
David Langley
Director of Programming Services
Mapping Solutions, LLC
4660 S. Hagadorn Rd.
Suite 120
East Lansing, MI 48823
USA
517.332.7735 Voice
517.332.1329 Fax
company email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
personal email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.mappingsolutions.com
Need cheap GDT and NavTech street-level data for North America and Europe?
Check out Map-In-A-Box at www.mapinabox.com
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 8:46 PM
Hi Eric et al...We're dabbling in all this stuff too...and as far as content
working from an esri site in MapInfo (Pro or .NET) it must be an OGC
compliant Web Map Service (or feature service in.net). Arc Web services I
think includes more functional services such as geocoding and oruting but
for WMS and WFS you can use a broad variety of content providers...I think
private imagery firms like globeexplorer may now have WMS content on a
fee/metered basis...and for free stuff there seems to be more govt servers
popping up regularly. My local example is Maine is maybe a few months away
from hosting an OGC compliant WMS to serve orthoimagery first and feature
content later - in theory this will remain an ArcIMS engine but be
'retooled' with OGC connectors to be an open WMS that MapInfo will be able
to hit. I have been playing with esri canada's recent announcement of OGC
compliant WMS for Geobase Canada. Go to this list
http://www.geographynetwork.ca/data/freedata.html#
And click on a link to see the metadata...at the bottom of the metadata
there is a direct connect URL you can plug into Pro. Starting to be pretty
cool...
I don't know if this answers your question or not - I've been in rambling
discussions on this subject matter today so I may be a bit wandering. But
good luck and maybe there will be an ultimate clearinghouse of WMS servers
and other web services;
And I think that's what GOS is supposed to be...
http://www.geo-one-stop.gov/ - if you go there to Geodata Marketplace>NSDI
clearinghouse and do a 'search for geospatial data' you might find some good
resources...
Will Mitchell
Mitchell Geographics, Inc.
496 Congress St
Portland, ME 04101
ph 207.879.7769
fx 207.253.5756
www.mitchellgeo.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Devries, Eric SSgt - XIII [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 10:07 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: MI-L Web Services
Greetings fellow Mappers!!
I've been working on an ASP.NET project with some mapping capabilities,
testing out MI's new King software. In doing so, I've been checking out
some available free web services that provide GIS related information.
(Such as Weather by Zip code.)
Long story short, I came across ESRI's "Arcweb Online". First of all, I'm
curious if these will work with MI. Secondly, I'm wondering if somehow I've
missed some free Webservices for MI products.
Anyone have some pointers or suggestions?
Eric DeVries, SSgt, USAF
NCOIC Visualized Intelligence
HQ Air Force Office of Special Investigations
(240) 857-0827 / DSN 857-0827
"My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq and I want to
negotiate."
A U.S. Special Forces soldier replied: "Regards from President Bush."
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