1. Wide Open Spaces:
MySQL as a Web
Mapping Service
Backend
Don Beesing
Alion Science and Technology
USJFCOM Experimentation
Modeling and Simulation
April 22, 2009

2. Overview
Going to show MySQL in one aspect of GIS World

Security Restrictions
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Feel free to ask questions
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3. Problem
Experiment based environment

How to share geospatial information

Many different government organizations
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Disparate systems on each site
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Fallback systems to use
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4. Solution
WMS (Web Mapping Service)

OpenGIS Standard
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Http request returns images
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Can be a queryable service
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5. Constraints
Typical commercial setup
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Timing & dollar issues
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Unofficial open source policy
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Our idea
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MySQL & MapServer
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6. Diagram of Implementation
Users without Users with access to
access to WMS WMS Publishing
Publishing
Point and click GUI
COP
COP/WMS Server
WMS Feed
WMS Feed
HTTPDServer
HTTP Feed
MapServer CGI
MySQL Server

7. MySQL
Already a key component of lab
•
Proof of concept
•
Stubbornness of lab manager
•

8. MySQL Implementation
• Schema setup – geometry type
• Parent/child tables for updates
• Roads not taken
– Shapefile import

9. MapServer
Open source
•
Standards compliant
•
OGR connector to link w/MySQL
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Standards version issues
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Reliance on linked WFS
•

10. MapServer Format Example
Meta Data Header
WEB
METADATA
quot;wms_titlequot; quot;J9 Noble Resolve WMS Serverquot;
quot;wms_onlineresourcequot; quot;https://yoursite.com/mapserv?map=nr.map"
quot;wms_srsquot; quot;EPSG:4269 EPSG:4326quot;
quot;wfs_titlequot; quot;J9 Noble Resolve WFS Serverquot;
quot;wfs_onlineresourcequot; quot;https://yoursite.com/mapserv?map=nr.map"
quot;wfs_srsquot; quot;EPSG:4326quot;
END
END

11. Format Example
Layer Info
LAYER
CONNECTIONTYPE OGR
CONNECTION
quot;MYSQL:noble_resolve_08,user=test,password=test,host=127.0.0.1,port=3306quot;
DATA quot;SELECT geom,id,max(update_id) as `update_ref`,object_title,IF(u.description IS NULL,
g.description, u.description) as `description`, IF(u.attachments IS NULL,
SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING(g.attachments,2),',',1),
SUBSTRING_INDEX(SUBSTRING(u.attachments,2),',',1)) as `Attachment` FROM geoint g LEFT
JOIN geoint_updates u ON id=record_id WHERE object_type IN ('POINT','MULTIPOINT') AND
incident_type='fire' GROUP BY id, update_id;quot;
NAME quot;fire_pointsquot;
METADATA
##wms metadata
quot;wms_titlequot; quot;fire_pointsquot;
quot;wms_authorquot; quot;USJFCOM J9quot;
quot;wms_srsquot; quot;EPSG:4269 EPSG:4326quot;
quot;wms_include_itemsquot; quot;allquot;
##wfs metadata
quot;wfs_titlequot; quot;fire_pointsquot;
quot;gml_featureidquot; quot;idquot;
quot;gml_include_itemsquot; quot;allquot;
quot;gml_geometriesquot; quot;standardquot;
quot;gml_standard_typequot; quot;pointquot;

12. Format Example
Layer Info (cont)
END
TYPE POINT
STATUS ON
DUMP TRUE
TOLERANCE 3
TRANSPARENCY 90
TEMPLATE quot;test.phpquot;
PROJECTION
quot;init=epsg:4326quot;
END
CLASS
NAME quot;fire_pointsquot;
SYMBOL graphics/flames.gif
END
END

13. Screenshot Demo
Giesken
James
J9 Control

14. Screenshot Demo

15. How did MySQL grade out?
Pros
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Cons
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Incompletes
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16. Unresolved Issues – Steps Forward
Speed of Google Maps
•
Grouping of layers
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Standards Assessment
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MySQL GIS function usage expansion
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17. Thanks
Would like to thank Steve Judy who was instrumental
•
in the front end design and design of some of the
subtables used for this project
Also would like to thank Chris Kannan of NGA who I
•
bounced a lot of these ideas off of and who put me in
contact with people who had used MapServer before

18. Questions
Any Questions after the conference can be directed to:
Don Beesing
dbeesing@alionscience.com

19. References
http://mapserver.org
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http://www.gdal.org/ogr
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http://www.opengeospatial.org
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http://www.jfcom.mil/about/experiment.html
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jo