Chapter 4. Installing MapServer

Whether you are preparing static map images for a web page or publishing an interactive web site, MapServer can do the job. Interactive maps allow users to zoom in to particular areas and turn map layers on or off. Applications can be made that let the user select a feature on the map and link it to other data. The possibilities are endless, but the final product is usually a point, click, and view process. The user identifies an area to view or a layer to look at, and the web page is updated with the requested content. If you need a static map, you can save the map for later use.

You can use MapServer from the command line or, for interested programmers, through an API. MapServer also can be used as a common gateway interface (CGI) application or scripted using common web programming languages such as PHP, Perl, Python, and Java. Whether using the CGI version or scripting your own, MapServer's runtime configuration files control what layers are shown and how they are drawn. Mapping data can easily be added to an existing application by editing the configuration file.

This chapter discusses what MapServer is, how it can be used, and how it works. It also covers how to set up the underlying programs that make up MapServer, so it can be used in custom applications. Examples of MapServer application development are given in Chapters 10 and 11.