If it suits your needs, you can also use ESRI Personal Geodatabases as a spatial data source with the recent versions of mapserver (with GDAL1.3.1), through the OGR connection, thanks to additions to the code by Frank Warmerdam a few months ago.
Cheers, Ken On 1/21/06, Puneet Kishor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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 >
