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mapmaker
470 Posts |
 Posted - 30/04/2012 : 09:27:09
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| We are considering adding support for WMS (Web Map Service) to Map Maker but we're unclear what proportion of typical Map Maker users would find it useful. Do you have any views? What specific WMS services would you be likely to use? |
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Matthew
United Kingdom
6 Posts |
Posted - 30/04/2012 : 22:02:14
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That would be great, linking to google open layers is very useful for forestry mapping, but would this require changing the projection per layer? Having read elsewhere on this forum I think it’s called ‘on-the-fly reprojection’. If not having to constantly covert the layer between British grid and google (Mercator?) would be time consuming.
Most of the main statutory consultees we have to deal with such as SNH, Forestry Commission, Historic Scotland etc, all have WMS services that can quickly flag up constraints for forestry. Whilst you can download most of the files as shape files and convert them to dra files, they are huge and the computer usually becomes painfully slow. If WMS maps could speed this up it would be of great benefit to me. Even better would be if MM had the ability to inherit the data from these layers so for example if my compartment/species map linked to its database could then import/understand which polygons were affected and by what, it would save hours of time.
Whilst I’ve only had limited practice with WMS, with an occasional foray into QGIS (sorry MM!!) it does seem very useful. It would certainly get my vote.
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Philippe
France
295 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2012 : 10:25:19
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WMS and WFS might be very useful for those who want to gather public data made available as a consequence of the INSPIRE directive (though these data should be available for download). There is no doubt that both the amount of data and the sources - ie public web map servers - will increase significantly in the near future.
Services :
GetCapabilities
GetMap
GetFeatureInfo
Proportion of Map Maker users :
Hmm? I guess that most Forestry and Environment oriented users might love WMS & WFS functionalities.
Regards
Philippe |
Edited by - Philippe on 03/05/2012 10:27:15 |
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Irvine
United Kingdom
51 Posts |
Posted - 03/05/2012 : 17:33:18
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Sorry but I can't give a sensible answer as I have no idea what WMS can do. Could you please me to a web page that gives a simple explanation that non technical people can understand.
Thanks
Irvine |
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Philippe
France
295 Posts |
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mapmaker
470 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2012 : 10:01:49
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Irvine,
wms is one of those things which is surrounded by geek-speak, which is why I'm interested to find out how much it is, or may be, used by people who are not geeks, which is the majority of Map Maker users. That said the basic idea is simple and attractive. Potentially in Map Maker when adding a layer there would be the option of rather than selecting a file you would select a web address of, for example, the Forestry Commission and then the forest compartments would simply be displayed like any other layer - the only difference being that the data was not on your computer but coming from out there on the internet. In theory all sorts of government bodies and other institutions will make their data available in this way. In practice, many wms sites are not working properly or have closed down. It gives the impression of being a technology which has a lot of promise but which isn't quite there yet. |
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Irvine
United Kingdom
51 Posts |
Posted - 08/05/2012 : 08:56:15
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Eric/Philippe
Thank you for the explanation, I think I have got the idea. However where do we stand with copyright? Are we free to print and use hard copy maps which incorporate layers taken from the internet? What if the web based map information includes OS data?
I frequently use the Forestry Commission's Land Information Search web page and it would be useful to incorporate some of their data in a MapMaker project. However to be really useful I would need to be able to select which layers of data I want to display and which I don't want. Also to be really useful the web based map would have to be accurate at the 1:10 000 scale we normally work at.
I assume the WMS will only work where there is a reasonably fast broadband connection as the on-line datasets will be very big and download times could be a problem. Obviously there could be problems if you are away from the office working on a lap top.
I think I would be tempted to trace over the outline of the downloaded polygons to create my own .dra layer which would load faster and could be used without a broadband connection. Would this infringe on copyright?
I realise I have posted more questions than answers so the best I can say at present is maybe yes, maybe no.
Irvine
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Philippe
France
295 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2012 : 11:47:11
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Irvine,
Copyright is an issue, you're right.
Public data might be re-usable at will as long as it's source is mentioned. I had a case in 2006 which ended quite well from my point of view.
Once connected, the web map servers leave it to the user to select the wished layer(s) in a list.
Of course accuracy could be a pb. The metadata would give you some infos on the scale at which the layer has been drawn.
And you're right again, a reasonably fast broadband is needed.
Regards
Philippe |
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davesgrandad
United Kingdom
35 Posts |
Posted - 14/05/2012 : 17:50:29
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Hi Mapmaker,
I have had to use QGIS to load layers from the British Geological Survey which I want to process within mapmaker, so a built in WMS system would definitely be useful to me.
Best wishes to all,
David |
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Marketal
United Kingdom
24 Posts |
Posted - 29/05/2012 : 09:43:58
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I reckon, like Irvine that this would be very useful to me. Too often we as consultants are getting asked to be 'all knowing' and trawling through online datasets like the FC LIS and soil datasets is expected. Then to by steam create layers is a bit slow, so anything that can speed this up (and eliminate errors) has got to be good.
It gets my vote.
Cheers
Mark |
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Neil MacKenzie
United Kingdom
5 Posts |
Posted - 10/06/2012 : 16:55:07
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The National Library of Scotland website [http://geo.nls.uk/]now has georeferenced old maps like Roy, OS first and second editions etc available for streaming. Would be tremendous to have these streamed to MM and even better to be able to save as a layer. Such maps are of course out of copyright.
Neil |
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themoudie
United Kingdom
41 Posts |
Posted - 19/07/2012 : 10:20:16
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As an employee of the FC, I have the information 'in house' and I am not a user of WMS or WFS data. However, the easier the data that we make available on the WEB is to use by the forestry, environmental and regulatary community, the more likely plans, applications and general communication are to be objective, transparent and constructive. Making MapMaker GIS able to access this data appears critical to its contiunued use by many people. At present FC make WMS data available for Scotland, whilst England and Wales will be available in the future. Whilst WFS enables the interogation of attributes, rather than just viewing a 2D layer, the ability to modify the data makes some 'bodies' wary over copyright and this may slow this next development.
Matthew's request for 'on the fly' projection changes, would be an 'essential', if MapMaker develops in this way.
These are my personal opinions and in no way should they be construed as being FC policy, opinion or endorsment!
My regards, themoudie. |
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john parrott
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
Posted - 29/07/2012 : 13:01:30
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| I have seen how WMS works in other GIS packages, and agree with other contributors that it would be really useful to be able to load layers from websites. |
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john parrott
United Kingdom
60 Posts |
Posted - 29/12/2013 : 19:10:18
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| I wonder if any progress has been made with this? Adding other datasets (historical, geological, soils etc...) would be a really valuable feature. |
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WMS?
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