WMS serving of images from the portal.

seems like an excellent way to leverage existing hardware and create some press for the Board.

From: Maine GeoLibrary [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smith, Michael
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: WMS serving of images from the portal.

Considering the heavy agenda next week, I doubt there is time for another item, so I want to put this out to everyone via email.

A continuing cost problem with GIS in the State is the storage of the now-vast library of orthophotos. I have been in limbo deciding how to address it until I saw the FY 10/11 rates for OIT database hosting. Although they include new detail on a data warehouse rate, the cost would actually increase slightly in FY10/11 over what it already is - $110,000 a year. The reason the cost is so high is because the data are stored in a database, which is far more expensive than file-based storage. I was waiting to see if the rate dropped at all before searching out alternatives.

MEGIS continues to receive additional aerial photos which we do not have the money to serve out via ArcSDE, including the 2007 1m USGS photos, the NAIP 2007 data, and the Bradstreet photos from Cumberland County (and soon also York County).

One other way to do this is to use file-based web mapping services (WMS) to serve out the imagery. I can use the open-source MapServer software to do this, with little difficulty, but the hardware is not currently available to do so. I suggest that as an alternative we look at using the portal server(s) to do this. This would create publicly-available WMS of basic GIS data and the orthophotos. WMS can be consumed by just about any GIS software. This would also help raise the level of recognition of the Board, because the Board would be providing a very useful and important service to the public, in conjunction with MEGIS. MEGIS would provide the staff to create the services, and in return the Board provide the (already paid for) hardware.

As far as the hardware goes, that is an area I'm rather familiar with, and I can say that the portal is a very small app requiring very little resource. It currently is running on an 8-core server with almost 4GB of RAM. There would be far more than enough horsepower to run WMS services alongside.

At this time, this is only a possibility that I wish to explore with the Board. There are a few other options I'm looking at for hosting WMS, and still a few conversations with the state stakeholders about the WMS approach. But I would like your feedback about this idea.