Setting up a multi-scale styling Web Map Service (WMS) with heterogeneous data from several sources can be a challenge. Various official databases from the Nordic countries have been used. The goal is to produce good looking, readable and efficient cartographic output.Topics that will be covered are as follows: How to choose appropriate content and style for various zoom levels. The Mapserver options to author a WMS service will be discussed. In this case the Scribe tool was chosen and used to carry out the work. The built in capabilities of Mapserver to do cartographic styling of point, line and polygons are exemplified. Heterogeneous data from several countries is discussed and how that affects the abilities to carry labeling for instance. Some shortcomings in the data sources are discussed. Some of these problems are solved by preprocessing data with the GDAL/OGR package. The intended use of the map is also discussed and how that influences feature selection for different zoom levels. Finally the performance tuning options for Mapserver are reviewed. The presentation aims to provide the attendees with enough information so that they can produce their own Mapserver WMS services with beautiful and useful maps. |