[MS4W-Users] ECW support

[Jeff McKenna]

Robert Sanson wrote:
> Hi
>  
> Just wondering whether it is possible to include support for ECW in the 
> latest GDAL library within the latest ms4w? I have an earlier version of 
> ms4w in production use on a server (Mapserver v 5.2.0) that I want to 
> upgrade. We have a large number of ECW files that I don't want to have 
> to convert to GeoTiff.
>  
> Many thanks,
>  
> Robert Sanson
>

Hello Robert,

This is a good question.  As always I recommend that you add yourself to 
the MS4W ticket for this issue 
(http://bugzilla.maptools.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2037) and add to the 
discussion, thank you.

I was having problems compiling the ECW support with their old SDK, 
however there is a new SDK released Oct 2009 that compiles on my 
platform.  *But*, there is a license change for the ECW SDK.  For an 
excellent detailed discussion on this change please see a recent 
GeoServer email thread on this 
(http://n2.nabble.com/ECW-license-changed-td3460720.html).

Paul Ramsey (from OpenGeo/PostGIS) summarized the license change to me 
as "you can use the ECW library if your software *and* the things you 
use that software *for* are entirely 'noncommercial'".

I don't feel that ECW can be supported by MS4W due to this new 
restriction (MS4W users have no way to know about this license).


-jeff


-- 
Jeff McKenna
FOSS4G Consulting and Training Services
http://www.gatewaygeomatics.com/