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I want to build a web app that uses map data provided by a WMS server. I want to load that data into a database then display filtered data on a live map.

I'm a beginner programmer and I haven't been able to find much info on how to implement this online. I work with WMS alot in GIS software but don't know what goes on behind the scenes. For the website map I plan to use google maps API or mapbox.

Gold Masta
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  • This is a very broad question...Try a online tutorial an than ask more specific question. In example: http://grindgis.com/blog/tilemill-tutorial-to-create-web-map-from-the-shapefile-alternative-to-arcgis-online – Tom-db Jan 27 '16 at 06:54
  • Thanks, I'm new to Stack Exchange. What I really want to know is how to parse the WMS data into my own database. – Gold Masta Jan 28 '16 at 17:37

2 Answers2

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A Web Mapping Service (WMS) serves rendered map images, not the data underlying the rendered map image. You could cache these images if you want, but it is not at all trivial to extract vector features from them, and in most cases attempting to do so would violate the terms of service of the WMS.

Instead you might try looking for a WFS (Web Feature Service), which serves vector features. Again be wary of terms of service.

alphabetasoup
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One approach to doing this would be to use a map server that supports WMS for the delivery and a database (or, e.g., GeoTIFF format files) for storage of the data being served. GeoServer is one such map server that can be used to accomplish that, using their WMS capabilities. If you have WMS services you are already familiar with you can use GeoServer to proxy acccess to those existing services as a way to get started. I did this using OpenLayers to render WMS layers on top of Google Maps base layers when I was getting started with WMS.

jwd630
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  • Thanks for the responses. The type of data that I want to overlay is vector shape data from a public WMS. I want to be able to query the data and display the result on an online map. I'll have to read up on GeoServer. I'm not sure if it can do what I am looking for. – Gold Masta Feb 01 '16 at 23:45