[maplab-users] MapLab beginnings

[Ryan Hunt]

Thanks for your fast response.  I'll look at your examples closely.

I went through several gyrations to install MapLab and get it working, 
but it was mostly because I had to set up Apache, PHP, MapServer, and 
PHP MapScript first on my windows box.  (usually my coworker takes care 
of that on our FreeBSD box).  The issue was complicated by the fact that 
I had installed the newest php 4.2.1 and had to backtrack to 4.1.2 which 
had some significant differences in it's extensions and dlls.  In 
between I had tried to compile a few things in CygWin (which didn't work 
very well at all for me)(I'm not very good at that.)
Then, when I did get it installed and working properly I couldn't tell 
at first because I didn't know wnough about mapserver map files to get 
it to work.

The good news is that I think I got it all working in one day despite 
all the hassles.  And now I'm enjoying working with MapLab.  It's quite 
a nice looking application.
 
Thanks

Jeff McKenna wrote:

>Hello Ryan,
>
>We're happy to hear that you're using MapLab.  A great way to start learning
>about mapfiles is to view an existing one, and you can grab our simple GMap
>application and view its mapfile
>(http://www2.dmsolutions.ca/mapserver/dl/gmap-ms36.zip).  Open up the GMap
>mapfile (gmap75.map in /gmap/htdocs) in MapEdit, and you will see several layers
>in the tree menu on the left.  In your case, you could modify this mapfile in
>MapEdit to use your data files by adding other layers.  Use the MapServer
>mapfile reference for info on all of the parameters
>(http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/doc36/mapfile-reference.html).  MapEdit's most
>powerful feature for making mapfiles is its preview (hit the "Preview Map" icon
>in the toolbar) which lets you view your map changes as you develop the mapfile.
>
>Some beginner mapfile hints:
>- make sure EXTENT and UNITS are correctly set
>- if you are using ESRI shapefiles, for the DATA parameter of a layer the "shp"
>extension is not required
>  e.g LAYER
>        NAME parks
>        ...
>        DATA park # park.shp is the full filename
>        ...
>      END # Layer
>- the other shapefile associated files that you mentioned (.shx, .dbf, .sbn, and
>.sbx) are required by MapServer to view the .shp file, but play no direct role
>in the mapfile
>- MapServer reprojects data on-the-fly, but you can avoid projection issues by
>only having data of the same projection in a mapfile (which is your case I
>imagine)
>
>Start by trying to view one of your data layers in MapEdit, and once that
>happens you're off to the races.  You should use the main MapServer mailing list
>for all general MapServer questions
>(http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/support.html).  Please let us know how your MapLab
>experience goes.  By the way, did you have any problems installing it?
>
>Have fun,
>
>Jeff
>
>
>
>Ryan Hunt wrote:
>
>>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?
>>
>>--
>>---
>>-Ryan Hunt
>>-MeterTools.com
>>-218-562-6200
>>
>
>

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