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This Wiki is a product of my Capstone Project for my Masters in Geographical Information Systems (MGIS) at Penn State University. The objective of this Wiki is to introduce open source web mapping applications from a non-developers perspective—from installing Linux OS to publishing a web map.

The Web Mapping HowTo in the left sidebar will help you get started. This HowTo contains a lot of information in text format, therefore, I highly suggest taking the time to read carefully and check your syntax. One incorrect input or skipped step may create many unnecessary hours of frustration. I purposely omitted screenshots and other graphics as this HowTo is designed to be a concise guide to creating a web map.

The Web Mapping HowTo demonstrates:

• installing Linux (Ubuntu), Apache HTTP, and MapServer,
• installing PostGIS database server with the PostGIS spatial extension,
• creating spatially enabled tables in PostgreSQL/PostGIS
• importing and/or exporting shapefiles to/from PostGIS, and
• building a basic web map using MapFish.

The HowTo includes a a MapFish tutorial that displays water wells locations in the State of New Mexico. The data for the demo is queried from a PostGIS database. Data layers for the MapFish tutorial, served through a WMS, include USGS topographic maps and water well data.

The HowTo culminates with a Live Demo that identifies the depth to water at nearby water wells relative to a user defined location. The data for the demo is queried from a PostGIS database. Base layers for the data, served through a WMS, include aerial photos, USGS topographic maps, and a geologic map of New Mexico.

I encourage the community to become part of this Wiki and use it as a place to gather and share ideas. Please login to post comments.

Thank you and enjoy,

Andrew Parker