[maplab-users] MapLab beginnings

[Ryan Hunt]

Hello.  I'm new to the world of mapping, but I'm an experienced php 
developer.  I managed to get maplab working on my windows box, but I'm 
having some difficulty figuring out what to put into the map files.  
 
I have 42 shape files (that I got from a power utility that's a customer 
of mine for other web services) and I don't quite understand what it 
takes to get them configured into one or more map files.  Is this only 
possible by defining all the details about the layers for each shape 
file?  Or is there a convenient way to have all loaded for me?

Also, the ESRI system that created these shape files created several 
other files (with various endings like .shx, .dbf, .prj, .sbn, and .sbx) 
.  Do these files relate to MapServer map files in any way?

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-Ryan Hunt
-MeterTools.com
-218-562-6200