Web Map Service
Encyclopedia
A Web Map Service is a standard protocol for serving georeference
d map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS
database. The specification was developed and first published by the Open Geospatial Consortium
in 1999.
The Open Geospatial Consortium released WMS version 1.0.0 in April 2000, followed by version 1.1.0 in June 2001, and version 1.1.1 in January 2002. The OGC released WMS version 1.3.0 in January 2004.
Request types that WMS providers may optionally support include:
software that provide web map services capability include GeoServer
, MapServer
, Geozilla, World Wind Server and MapGuide Open Source
.
Proprietary server software that allow providing web map services include ObjectFX Web Mapping Tools, ArcGIS Server
, ArcIMS
, Envinsa from Pitney Bowes Business Insights, GeoWebPublisher from Bentley Systems
, GeognoSIS from Cadcorp
, GeoMedia
, Oracle
MapViewer, LizardTech
's Express Server, and SIAS (Smallworld
Internet Application Server) from GE Energy, Autodesk
's Infrastructure Map Server, ERDAS, Inc's APOLLO Suite of products, and CARIS
's suite of products.
WMS is a widely supported format for maps and GIS data accessed via the Internet and loaded into client side GIS software. Major commercial GIS and mapping software that support WMS include MATLAB
and Mapping Toolbox, Netwin, Autodesk
's Map 3D and Civil 3D products, Bentley Systems
's GIS products, ESRI
's ArcGIS
products, Cadcorp
SIS product suite, MapInfo Professional
, GeoMedia
, Global Mapper
, Manifold System
, PYXIS WorldView, and Google Earth
. Open source software that supports WMS include Quantum GIS
, uDig
, OpenJUMP
, MapGuide Open Source
, NASA World Wind
, GRASS GIS
, and gvSIG
. OpenLayers
, GE Energy's SIAS, an Ajax
library, supports WMS for integrating WMS maps into web pages, as does Mapbender
.
Georeference
To georeference something means to define its existence in physical space. That is, establishing its location in terms of map projections or coordinate systems. The term is used both when establishing the relation between raster or vector images and coordinates, and when determining the spatial...
d map images over the Internet that are generated by a map server using data from a GIS
Geographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
database. The specification was developed and first published by the Open Geospatial Consortium
Open Geospatial Consortium
The Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...
in 1999.
History
The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) became involved in developing standards for web mapping after a paper was published in 1997 by Allan Doyle, outlining a "WWW Mapping Framework". The OGC established a task force to come up with a strategy, and organized the "Web Mapping Testbed" initiative, inviting pilot web mapping projects that built upon ideas by Doyle and the OGC task force. Results of the pilot projects were demonstrated in September 1999, and a second phase of pilot projects ended in April 2000.The Open Geospatial Consortium released WMS version 1.0.0 in April 2000, followed by version 1.1.0 in June 2001, and version 1.1.1 in January 2002. The OGC released WMS version 1.3.0 in January 2004.
Requests
WMS specifies a number of different request types, two of which are required by any WMS server:- GetCapabilities - returns parameters about the WMS and the available layers
- GetMap - with parameters provided, returns a map image
Request types that WMS providers may optionally support include:
- GetFeatureInfo
- DescribeLayer
- GetLegendGraphic
Software
Open sourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software that provide web map services capability include GeoServer
GeoServer
In computing, GeoServer - an open-source server written in Java - allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major spatial data source using open standards...
, MapServer
MapServer
MapServer is an open source development environment for building spatially-enabled internet applications. It can run as a CGI program or via MapScript which supports several programming languages . MapServer was developed by the University of Minnesota — so, it is often and more specifically...
, Geozilla, World Wind Server and MapGuide Open Source
MapGuide Open Source
MapGuide Open Source is a web-based map-making platform that enables users to quickly develop and deploy web mapping applications and geospatial web services...
.
Proprietary server software that allow providing web map services include ObjectFX Web Mapping Tools, ArcGIS Server
ArcGIS Server
ArcGIS Server is the core server geographic information system software made by Esri. ArcGIS Server is used for creating and managing GIS Web services, applications, and data...
, ArcIMS
ArcIMS
ArcIMS is a Web Map Server produced by Esri. It is a GIS that is designed to serve maps across the Internet. Sometimes these maps are just static images allowing simple panning and zooming, while others are more complex pages...
, Envinsa from Pitney Bowes Business Insights, GeoWebPublisher from Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems, Incorporated is a software company that produces solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure. The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction and operations...
, GeognoSIS from Cadcorp
Cadcorp
Computer Aided Development Corporation Ltd. is a British owned and run company established in 1991. Cadcorp has its headquarters in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, U.K. and a development office in London...
, GeoMedia
GeoMedia
GeoMedia is the technology, suite of software components in Intergraph Corporation's geographic information system and family of software products that include: GeoMedia Objects, GeoMedia Viewer , GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia WebMap Professional and others...
, Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
MapViewer, LizardTech
LizardTech
LizardTech is a geospatial software company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, notable for transferring the wavelet-based MrSID image encoding and viewing technology from initial development by the U.S...
's Express Server, and SIAS (Smallworld
Smallworld
Smallworld was a GIS company founded in Cambridge, England, in 1989 by Dick Newell and others. It grew to become the global market leader for GIS in utilities and communications, according to Daratech. In September 2000, it was acquired by GE Energy, a division of General Electric...
Internet Application Server) from GE Energy, Autodesk
Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that focuses on 3D design software for use in the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment industries. The company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, a coauthor of the first versions of the company's...
's Infrastructure Map Server, ERDAS, Inc's APOLLO Suite of products, and CARIS
CARIS
CARIS is a software company that develops and supports geomatics software for land and marine applications.The company was founded in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada in 1979 as Universal Systems Ltd...
's suite of products.
WMS is a widely supported format for maps and GIS data accessed via the Internet and loaded into client side GIS software. Major commercial GIS and mapping software that support WMS include MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
and Mapping Toolbox, Netwin, Autodesk
Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that focuses on 3D design software for use in the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment industries. The company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, a coauthor of the first versions of the company's...
's Map 3D and Civil 3D products, Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems, Incorporated is a software company that produces solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure. The company’s software serves the building, plant, civil, and geospatial vertical markets in the areas of architecture, engineering, construction and operations...
's GIS products, ESRI
ESRI
Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
's ArcGIS
ArcGIS
ArcGIS is a suite consisting of a group of geographic information system software products produced by Esri.ArcGIS is a system for working with maps and geographic information...
products, Cadcorp
Cadcorp
Computer Aided Development Corporation Ltd. is a British owned and run company established in 1991. Cadcorp has its headquarters in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, U.K. and a development office in London...
SIS product suite, MapInfo Professional
MapInfo Professional
MapInfo Professional is a mapping software product produced by MapInfo Corporation.MapInfo Professional has the ability to combine and display, on a single map, data from a variety of sources that are in different formats and projections...
, GeoMedia
GeoMedia
GeoMedia is the technology, suite of software components in Intergraph Corporation's geographic information system and family of software products that include: GeoMedia Objects, GeoMedia Viewer , GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia WebMap Professional and others...
, Global Mapper
Global mapper
Global Mapper is a geographic information system software package developed by globalmapper.com that runs on Microsoft Windows. The GIS software competes with ESRI, Manifold System, and MapInfo GIS products. Global Mapper handles both vector, raster, and elevation data, and provides viewing,...
, Manifold System
Manifold System
Manifold System is a geographic information system software package developed by manifold.net that runs only on Microsoft Windows. Manifold System handles both vector and raster data, includes spatial SQL, a built-in Internet Map Server , and other general GIS features...
, PYXIS WorldView, and Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
. Open source software that supports WMS include Quantum GIS
Quantum GIS
Quantum GIS is a free software desktop Geographic Information Systems application that provides data viewing, editing, and analysis capabilities.-Development:...
, uDig
UDig
uDig is a GIS software program produced by a community led by Canadian-based consulting company Refractions Research. It is based on the Eclipse platform and features full layered Open Source GIS...
, OpenJUMP
JUMP GIS
JUMP is a Java based vector GIS and programming framework. Current development continues under the OpenJUMP name.-Features:* platform independent * reads and writes ESRI Shapefile, GML files, DXF and PostGIS...
, MapGuide Open Source
MapGuide Open Source
MapGuide Open Source is a web-based map-making platform that enables users to quickly develop and deploy web mapping applications and geospatial web services...
, NASA World Wind
NASA World Wind
World Wind is an open-source virtual globe developed by NASA and the open source community for use on personal computers. Old versions need Microsoft Windows but the more recent Java version, , is cross platform and provides a suite of . The World Wind Java version was awarded in November 2009...
, GRASS GIS
GRASS GIS
GRASS GIS is a free, open source geographical information system capable of handling raster, topological vector, image processing, and graphic data....
, and gvSIG
GvSIG
gvSIG is a geographic information system , that is, a desktop application designed for capturing, storing, handling, analyzing and deploying any kind of referenced geographic information in order to solve complex management and planning problems. gvSIG is known for having a user-friendly interface,...
. OpenLayers
OpenLayers
OpenLayers is an open source JavaScript library for displaying map data in web browsers. It provides an API for building rich web-based geographic applications similar to Google Maps and Bing Maps...
, GE Energy's SIAS, an Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
library, supports WMS for integrating WMS maps into web pages, as does Mapbender
Mapbender
' is a graduated project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. Read more about in the project Wiki.-Introduction:Mapbender is a web mapping software implemented in PHP and JavaScript, the configuration resides in a data model stored in a PostgreSQL PostGIS or MySQL database. It is developed as...
.
See also
- Tile Map ServiceTile Map ServiceTile Map Service or TMS, is a specification for storing and retrieving cartographic data, developed by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. The definition generally requires a URI structure which attempts to fulfill REST principles...
, an OGC standard for tiled map layers - Open Source Geospatial FoundationOpen Source Geospatial FoundationThe Open Source Geospatial Foundation , is a non-profit non-governmental organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed in February 2006 to provide financial, organizational and legal support to...
- Web Coverage ServiceWeb Coverage ServiceThe Open Geospatial Consortium Web Coverage Service Interface Standard provides an interface allowing requests for geographical coverages across the web using platform-independent calls...
(WCS) - Web Feature ServiceWeb Feature ServiceThe Open Geospatial Consortium Web Feature Service Interface Standard provides an interface allowing requests for geographical features across the web using platform-independent calls...
(WFS)