Geoserver Exploration
This section explores and demonstrates some of the functionality of Geoserver. Unlike some of the other demos contained elsewhere, this section is part-blog and part-demo rather than being an out-and-out demo. This is so it can act as a respository of infornmation/notes for my future self in a single location rather than spread out over multiple blog posts.
What is Geoserver?
Geoserver is a web server to serve maps and data from a range of different sources. This can be data stored within a geospatial database, redirected geospatial services from elsewhere or common
geospatial datatypes such as shapefiles and rasters. I was aware of Geoserver and had some limited exposure to Web Map Services (WMS) when at University although this mainly consisted of
making requests using OpenLayers. This is the first time I have dedicate time, and gotten hands-on, the server-side.
Data can be served in a variety of formats including pre-rended maps returned as JPEG/PNG or can be output as 'raw' formats (KML, GML GeoJson) for consumption by geospatial tools.
Geoserver is built in Java using the Spring Framework and is responsive and scalable. It implements a number of common standards / protocols such as those detailed in the table below.
| Protocol | Summary Detail |
|---|---|
| WMS |
The Web Map Service protocol defines the http interface for requesting map images from a server. Data can be
drawn from multiple sources and combined easily if they each use the WMS protocol. The output formats available include: PNG, JPEG, SGV, GeoTIFF, PDF, KML. |
| WFS | The Web Feature Service provides a protocol to query geospatial features, style them and to perform CRUD
operations. Features returned can include the feature geometry and attibutes. These can be returned in a variety of formats including: GML, Shapefile, GeoJson and CSV. |
| WCS | The Web Coverage Service provided a protocol for accessing raster data (a WFS for raster data). Data formats returned include: JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, Tiff and GeoTIFF. |
Setup, Config and Features
Installation and Setup
User Rights (pending)
Demos and Playthings
Basic API calls to WMS and WFS
Rest API calls (pending)
Play-thing
Links
OSGeo introduction to Geoserver
GeoServer (https://geoserver.org/)