Mastering GeoServer

Per-request styling of map features

It is possible to ask GeoServer to render features in a style that does not exist within its own catalog. This ability to do per-request styling is also referred to as external styles.

Note

Per-request styling of map features is part of the OGC WMS standard. Any web mapping software that conforms to the standard will contain a similar capability. As this is a book on GeoServer, we will explore GeoServer's implementation of the WMS standard.

There are three different ways in which an external style can be provided to GeoServer:

• The SLD= parameter can be set on the GetMap GET request to point at an Internet-accessible SLD file
• The SLD_BODY= parameter can be set on the GetMap GET request to provide the SLD document ...