Web Map Service - MapInfo

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June 6, 2007 

Web Map Service 

MapXtreme Java provides you with the ability to use a Web Map Service (WMS). The WMS lets 

an application render layers of geographic data onto a map image. WMS in MapXtreme Java is 

1.1.1 compliant in accordance with the 1.1.1 OpenGIS® Web Map Service Implementation 

Specification. This document can be found at www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms. 

Table of Contents 

� WMS Server Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

� GetCapabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 

� GetMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 

� GetFeatureInfo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

� WMS Raster Data Provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 

� WMS Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 

WMS Server Overview 

Using HTTP requests, the Web Map Service provides georeference data to a 

client that displays this data as an image. Georeference data is information 

associated with maps that describe the real world extents of specific features and 

the projection upon which it is based. 

In accordance with Open GIS Consortium’s Web Map Service Implementation 

Specification, WMS in MapXtreme Java allows you to use the following 

operations: 

• GetCapabilities – returns service-level metadata. This metadata is a 

description of the information content and acceptable request parameters of 

the service. 

• GetMap – returns a map image with well-defined geospatial and dimensional 

parameters. 

• GetFeatureInfo – returns information about features shown on a map. This 

operation is optional. 

Note: All of these request types are case-sensitive. 

GetCapabilities 

When first finding a Web Map Server, it is necessary to find out the names of 

available layers, styles in use, spatial information in use, and other information 

that the server provides, in order to make a request for an image that is within the 

parameters of the server. 

GetCapabilities returns service-level metadata. This metadata is a description of 

the information content and acceptable request parameters of the service. 

1

Request Parameters 

The following table lists the possible request parameters. 

Sample Request 

The following is a sample GetCapabilities request: 

http://hostname:portnumber/wmsserver111/servlet/wms?SERVICE=WMS 

&REQUEST=GetCapabilities 

Sample Response 

Request Parameter 

The following is a sample GetCapabilities response: 

Required Description 

VERSION=version No Request version. MapXtreme Java 

only supports version 1.1.1. 

SERVICE=WMS Yes Service type. The SERVICE 

attribute will always be set to 

WMS because that is all 

MapXtreme Java currently 

supports. 

REQUEST=GetCapabilities Yes Request name 

- 

- 

OGC:WMS 

MapInfo Corporation Map Server 

 

 

- 

- 

- 

application/vnd.ogc.wms_xml 

- 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

image/gif 

image/jpeg 

image/jpg 

MapXtreme Java: Web Map Service 2

image/png 

- 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

text/xml 

- 

- 

- 

 

 

- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- 

application/vnd.ogc.se_xml 

application/vnd.ogc.se_inimage 

application/vnd.ogc.se_blank 

 

- 

MapInfo Corporation Map Server 

EPSG:4201 

EPSG:4205 

[...] 

 

- 

mistyles/brushes/brush_001 

brush_001 

 

[...] 

 

- 

Layers/World/Capitals 

World Capitals 

 

 

 


- 

Layers/World/Countries 

World Countries 

 

 

 

- 

Layers/World/Grid 

Grid 

 

 

 

- 

Layers/World/Ocean 

Ocean (Robinson) 

 

 

 

 

 

Storing Service Element Information 

You can supply a service.xml file that stores the Service element information as defined by OGC. This service.xml file 

needs to conform to the OGC DTD and it needs to be located in the wmsserver111 context in the WEB-INF folder. The 

following is a sample service.xml file. The root element of the XML file needs to be or the XML file will be 

considered invalid and the getCapabilitiesRequest will fail. 

- 

OGC:WMS 

Custom Service title 

 

 

Caching GetCapabilities Requests 

MapXtreme Java creates a capabilities.xml file at initialization time, that is used as a cache when MapXtreme Java 

responds to GetCapabilities requests. 

You can modify this file to provide further customized information about your data. There is a new init param controlling 

the "lifetime" of this file. Here is a sample from its web.xml: 

 

 

maxAgeOfCapabilitiesXML 

-1 

 


GetMap 

To set the frequency rate in hours and minutes, use decimal values. For example to set the maximum age to 15 

minutes, set the parameter to 0.25. 

To clear the cache on the server or locally, you must implement com.mapinfo.util.CacheManager. See the Javadocs for 

more information. 

GetMap returns a map image with well-defined geospatial and dimensional parameters. When invoking GetMap a 

WMS Client can specify: 

• Layers 

• Styles 

• A bounding box 

• Coordinate reference system 

• Output format 

• Output size 

• Background transparency and color 



Request Parameter Required Description 

VERSION=version Yes Request version. MapXtreme Java only supports 

version 1.1.1. 

REQUEST=GetMap Yes Request name. 

LAYERS=layer_list Yes Comma-separated list of one or more map layers. 

STYLES=style_list Yes Comma-separated list of one rendering style per 

requested layer. 

SRS=namespace:identifier Yes Spatial Reference System. 

BBOX=minx,miny,maxx,maxy Yes Bounding box corners (lower left, upper right) in SRS 

units. 

WIDTH=output_width Yes Width in pixels of map picture. 

HEIGHT=output_height Yes Height in pixels of map picture. 

FORMAT=output_format Yes Output format of map. 

TRANSPARENT 

=TRUE|FALSE 

No Background transparency of map (default=FALSE). 

BGCOLOR=color_value No Hexadecimal red-green-blue color value for the 

background color (default=0xFFFFFF). 

EXCEPTIONS =exception_ 

format 

WFS =web_feature_service_ 

URL 

No The format in which exceptions are to be reported by the 

WMS (default=SE_XML). 

No URL of Web Feature Service providing features to be 

symbolized using Styled Layer Descriptor. 



The following is a sample GetMap request: 

http://hostname:portnumber/wmsserver111/servlet/wms?VERSION=1.1.1 

&SRS=epsg:4267&REQUEST=GetMap&LAYERS=Layers/World/Countries&STYLES=&BBOX=-180, 

-90,180,180&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600&FORMAT=image/gif 


GetFeatureInfo 

The following is a sample GetMap response: 

GetFeatureInfo returns information about features shown on a map. This operation is optional. If GetFeatureInfo is 

employed, it must be issued after the GetMap request. 




VERSION=version Yes Request version. MapXtreme Java only supports 

version 1.1.1. 

REQUEST=GetFeatureInfo Yes Request name. 

Yes Partial copy of the Map request parameters that 

generated the map for which information is desired. 

QUERY_LAYERS=layer_list Yes Comma-separated list of one or more layers to be 

queried. 

INFO_FORMAT =output_format No Return format of feature information (MIME type). 

FEATURE_COUNT=number No Number of features about which to return information 

(default=1). 

X=pixel_column Yes X coordinate in pixels of feature (measured from upper 

left corner=0) 



The following is a sample GetFeatureInfo request: 

http://hostname:portnumber/wmsserver111/servlet/wms?VERSION=1.1.1 

&REQUEST=GetFeatureInfo&SRS=epsg:4326&LAYERS=Layers/World/Countries 

&STYLES=&BBOX=-180,-180,180,180&WIDTH=800&HEIGHT=600&QUERY_LAYERS=Layers/World/ 

Countries&X=54&Y=54 



Y=pixel_row Yes Y coordinate in pixels of feature (measured from upper 

left corner=0) 

EXCEPTIONS =exception_ 

format 

The following is a sample GetFeatureInfo response: 

No The format in which exceptions are to be reported by 

the WMS (default=application/vnd.ogc.se_xml). 

- 

- 

world 

- 

- 

- 

-1.6194966287191512E7 

-8621185.324024437 

 

- 

1.6789976633244906E7 

8326222.646170927 

 

 

 

- 

- 

coordsys122 

mapinfo 

 

 

- 

Country 

Capital 

Pop_1994 

Pop_Grw_Rt 

Pop_Male 

Pop_Fem 

Pop_0_14 

Pop_15_64 

Pop_65Plus 

Male_0_14 

Male_15_64 

Male_65Plus 

Fem_0_14 

Fem_15_64 

Fem_65Plus 

Pop_Urban 

Pop_Rural 


Pop_Urb_Male 

Pop_Urb_Fem 

Pop_Rur_Male 

Pop_Rur_Fem 

Arable_Pct 

Literacy 

Inflat_Rate 

Unempl_Rate 

Indust_Growth 

Continent 

MapInfo_ID 

 

- 

MapInfo_ID 

 

 

 

WMS Raster Data Provider 

WMS Client 

Mapxtreme Java provides the classes WMSRasterDataProviderHelper and WMSRasterTableDescHelper that allow 

you to use any WMS v1.1.1 Web service to provide a layer to MapXtreme Java programmatically to be rendered as 

part of a map. The WMS Raster Data Provider only allows you to render a layer. Any queries not related to rendering 

will either return an empty FeatureSet or meaningless results. 

Note: The only queries that will return valid results will be queries needed for rendering. Valid results will be returned 

from queryInRectangle. 

The class WMSRasterDataProviderHelper describes the location of the WMS 1.1.1 server to use. Use in conjunction 

with a WMSRasterTableDescHelper to add a layer to a MapJ object based on a layer located on a WMS 1.1.1 server. 

MapXtreme Java currently does not allow remote access to raster layers. As the WMS raster data provider provides 

raster information, it cannot be used for remote data access using the MapXtremeDataProviderRef. 

For more information, refer to these classes in the JavaDocs. For more on raster images, see the Developer Guide at 

http://reference.mapinfo.com/mapxtremejava. 

See also the sample application ImageConnectSample.java, located in the /MapXtreme-4.8.0/ 

examples/client/wms folder. This sample illustrates how to how to access the Image Connect Service, add an 

ImageConnect WMS raster layer, overlay it on a vector layer and display the result using Swing. 

MapXtreme Java Edition provides the JSP WMS Custom Tags sample application to display sample functionality of a 

WMS client. 

You can access the JSP WMS Custom Tags by starting MapXtreme Server and opening a browser and typing the URL 

to the sample, such as: 

http://[hostmachine:portnumber]/samples480/wms.jsp 


WMS Client Interface Description 

This section describes the various items in the graphical user interface of the WMS client. 

Server List 

The following items are available in the Server List portion of the interface: 

• Add – adds a new server to the list and make its layers available to the add layer controls. Invalid WMS URLs are 

ignored. 

• Remove – removes the server from the list and removes any of its layers from the map. 

Map Tools 

The following items are available in the Map Tools portion of the interface: 

• ZoomIn/ZoomOut/Recenter – basic map tools for working with the map. 

• ZoomToAllLayers – change zoom to encompass all the visible layers on the map 

Layer Control 

The following items are available in the Layer Control portion of the interface: 

• Visibility(On/Off) – changes the visibility of a layer of the map. 

• Style Chooser – allows you to choose a style from a list of supported styles for the layer. 

• Move Layer (Up/Down) – changes the ordering of the layers of the map. 

• Remove Layer – adds or removes a layer that has been supplied from any of the available servers. 

• Add Layer – adds a layer that has been supplied from any of the available servers. 

• Refresh Map Data – redraws the map taking into account any layer visibility changes. 


Using the WMS Client 

To use the WMS client: 

1. From the Server List portion of the interface, click Add. The Add Server dialog box displays. 

2. Enter the URL for the WMS 1.1.1 server that you want to use and click OK. 

3. From the WMS Layer Control portion of the interface, click Add. The Add Layer dialog box displays. 

4. Choose a server, layer and image type from the appropriate drop-down boxes and click OK. 

5. Use the controls described in WMS Client Interface Description on page 9 to work with the map.

Web Map Service - MapInfo

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