On Jan 21, 2006, at 7:03 PM, Maggie Ma wrote:
Hello Puneet,
Thank you very much for your advice.
The reason why I mentioned ArcGIS is because most of my spatial data,
in the future, will still be generated by ArcGIS. And as I understand,
MapServer is only something that will help me to display the map
online. (I dont have enough knowledge about MapServer at this moment
to be 100% sure about this statement tho :P)
I thought so, and you are correct about your assumptions vis a vis
MapServer.
My current understanding is that I will generate maps and spatial
data using ArcGIS and let MapServer to display them on the web. So I
may work switching between ArcGIS and MapServer a lot.
You are mostly correct. You would generate spatial data using ArcGIS.
Once you have done so, you can also generate maps using ArcGIS,
especially complicated cartographic products. But you will need
MapServer (or, heaven forbid, that other map server) to display that
data on the web. If your GIS data are in Shapefile format, you can use
them with MapServer on Windows or *nix or Mac OS X without any problem.
If your data are in some other format (ArcSDE, GeoDatabase), you would
have to change your approach accordingly.
So I want to choose an OS where both ArcGIS and MapServer are
installed and both work efficiently. It'd be a pain to change the
platform later on, I think.
My original advice still stands. The biggest source of inefficiency is
going to be you, the author/manager/administrator of the system. You
can minimize that inefficiency by working with the operating system and
platform that you are most comfortable with, unless some special
circumstances dictate your choice.
Windows should be just as fine as any other platform as long as you are
aware of its limitations -- unless you are comfortable with compiling,
and have a compiler, you will likely depend on binaries compiled by
others. They are usually freely available, and if you have special
needs, probably someone somewhere will happily help you. Also, keep in
mind, MapScript support may be limited, but as I said, most Windows
folks seem to work with PHP for creating their web apps. Of course, you
can create pretty good web apps without a stitch of MapScript -- the
galleria has some fine examples of pure CGI apps, with some very clever
DHTML/CSS front-ends.
The *nix world brings its own goodies. Every machine has all the
compilers you usually need, you are expected to "roll your own," and
you have generally more control over how things work.
Stay with what you know, learn the ins and outs, create smashing
applications, and you can always migrate later.
Puneet Kishor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I am a new user of MapServer. I have been using ArcGIS desktop for a
> few years. Now I want to do some online mapping. I just start to
look
> into MapServer. And I need your input on whether I should start with
> Unix or Windows MapServer.
>
> The concern is to do it right/the best from the very beginning. I am
> not afraid of learning Linux/Unix. I know some basics. But since I
> have always been working with ArcGIS under Windows, I want to make
> sure that it worths it to switch. If it wont make much difference
then
> I will just stay with Windows.
>
> So shall I go : Windows MapServer + Windows ArcGIS or Linux
MapServer
> + Linux ArcGIS or even Linux MapServer + Windows ArcGIS?
>
> What's the best way to start?
Unless you have any reason to switch (a specific tech that is
available
on one OS but not on the other; pointy-haired-boss, etc.), stay with
the operating system that you know and are comfortable with. That way
you will not make your life more complicated than it has to be. You
will notice that MapServer runs equally competently on whatever
platform you choose, albeit some aspects of it (SWIG/MapScript) might
be hobbled on Windows. Most Windows folks seem to go with PHP anyway,
and there is a pretty active following of that.
That said, you are mixing some technologies here. Are you planning to
leverage ArcGIS somehow? I am curious as to why you are mentioning
ArcGIS and MapServer in the same sentence.
--
Puneet Kishor
