13.3. GIDB Web Map Service Implementation

In this section, we will look at the OpenGIS Consortium's (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) Interface Specification and how it is utilized within the GIDB System. This specification is a set of open protocols that allow Web map servers to provide uniform services to HTML clients. By definition of the specification, a Web map server has three basic responsibilities:

  1. Publish a list of maps it can provide, together with the query abilities of each.

  2. Reply to queries concerning map content.

  3. Generate a map.

Actual map data can be provided in a number of formats, including pictures or images, basic graphical elements (vector), or sets of geographic feature data. The standardization of map requests can allow users, via ...

Get XML Data Management: Native XML and XML-Enabled Database Systems now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.