I'm trying the new "online data" plugin.
When I connect to one of the 3 provided urls in the "Catalog browser" I get a long list of "available data". When I select one of them I get a preview and the data bounds are filled. Next I press the "add ..." button and a new form pops up.
How can I know what to fill in at "This layer is provided by "? I leave the default setting: ArcXML getMap
I select "add for optimal viewing experience" and hit the "add data' button.

An error occurs. Don't know which one but I've send it to Chris. Next the "Send error" form keeps popping up, closing MW didn't stop it I had to kill MW.
What is the right procedure to get the data?

Another question can the servers listed at:
http://www.skylab-mobilesystems.com/en/wms_serverlist.html
be used as well.

Thanks
Paul

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Paul Meems
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Paul,

It looks like those errors that popped up were due to your Dutch-language version of Windows! I didn't really test the Online Data Plug-in on a fully internationalized system yet.

I'll get it fixed and post new binaries as soon as possible. Thanks for pointing it out.

The servers on the list you provided can be used with the online data plug-in, yes (once I get it fixed for your localization). I'll post again here when it's ready to go.

Thanks!
--Chris

Paul,

I've made a bunch of changes (things like parsing numbers with a . for the decimal point instead of , even though you're in the Netherlands) -- and avoiding parsing "Now", etc.

This seems to make it work fine now when I set my local system here to "Dutch" or "Italy" (and "US").

I also made a few other little changes to make it work better with respect to localization. I've posted the latest version both to Subversion in MapWindow4Dev and to the MapWindow downloads page.

Back to your question on how to use it --

"How can I know what to fill in at "This layer is provided by "?

When you're using the "Browse Catalog", that will have been filled in automatically by the catalog. So, in this latest release, I made it so it disables those options if you're coming from Browse Catalog. If you use the "Add Layer" option instead of browsing a catalog, it won't know which it is, and in that case you'd need to choose it. Usually you don't need to bother with it though.

Your list of servers that you mentioned should all work with it; but as I was checking over that list it looks like several of them are broken and return 404 (not found) errors... but in general, yes, that type of link will work. ArcIMS links also work as well.

Thanks!
--Chris

Thanks Chris,

I was able to get some data, although I got some errors as well. When I close the project I get in a loop of errors. Some of them I've send you.

When I open this url:
columbo.nrlssc.navy.mil/ogcwms/servlet/WMSServlet/Netherlands_RIVM_Maps.wms?SERVICE=WMS&REQUEST=GetCapabilities
I get the list. When I select one to get a preview I get an error, this one I've send you as well.

Perhaps you can alter the 'send error' window to remember my e-mailaddress and let me see the error being send.

So it's partially working and it's looking great.

Paul

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Release manager, configuration manager and
forum moderator of MapWindow GIS

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Dutch speaking users: www.mapwindow.nl

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Paul,

It looks like the last few are some lingering internationalization problems. I'll get them fixed and let you know.

Thanks!
--Chris

First thanks for your great work Chris.

As I´m from Germany I´ve tried some german WMS servers but except for one single map on the server from CCGIS none of the german servers worked. I always get error messages either when I try to look at a preview or when I try to add a layer to the map.
I´ve noticed that whenever there is no preview available there´s gonna be an error message when trying to add the layer.

As I´ve had some problems implementing german WMS servers into MapBender I´m wondering if there´s something incompatible with OGC specifications. Did you notice anything from the error logs you´ve got yet?

--Thomas

Hi Thomas,

It seems that some servers act a little differently that the ones I tested on - one good example (a problem Paul Meems ran into) is that some European servers return a comma instead of a period for decimal points. I've fixed that one, but I'm sure other problems are lurking waiting to be found.

If you could send a few example links to me I can have a look at what kind of problems the plug-in is encountering and give it a shot. The exception mailer hasn't really returned anything enlightening... it it wasn't a violation of privacy it would be nice for the mailer to include the URL being accessed!

Thanks,
--Chris

Chris

I've been trying some of the servers from Paul's list. Just trying some servers at random, with an emphasis on "interesting-to-me stuff". Have not been successful downloading data from:

[cgns.nrcan.gc.ca]

[columbo.nrlssc.navy.mil]

[192.197.71.54]
(this one showed previews, but was still unable to download data)

This source & layer produced a .Net/Windows error (ie, it was not your plug-in's error dialog)
[columbo.nrlssc.navy.mil]
Layer: #10 Plots Undefined



I *was* successful downloading some layers from:
[www.geographynetwork.ca]


HTH

Thanks for your reply Chris.

I´m especially interested in the maps of the NRW-Geoserver and the Mapserver Niedersachsen as I need them for a project.

Geoserver North Rhine-Westphalia German Base Map 1:5000

Geoserver North Rhine-Westphalia Topographic Map 1:25000

Geoserver North Rhine-Westphalia Topographic Map 1:100000

Mapserver Lower Saxony (Don´t know what to find there but yould be useful)

Got the URLs from the Server list Paul mentioned in the first post of this thread and the successor page.

After those pages didn´t work I´ve tried several different pages from germany
FIS Stobo NRW

Gewaesserstationierungskarte NRW

The only german server wich really worked was the one from CCGIS I´ve mentioned


Then I´ve become a little frustrated and tried international servers wich worked (I also tried the mentioned).
Tsunami Diasaster Data

WMS-BAFU CH

King George Island GIS Project WMS

Thanks for your efforts
--Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Many of those are reporting resource links which are incorrect... so it can be fixed by checking the "Force use of this link?" option. This fixed a few, but others are still giving me this error:

Verhältnisse zwischen der BoundingBox und des Images stimmen nicht überein!

My weak translation ability tells me it's complaining that the bounding box I requested doesn't match what's available in the map. (Right?)

That said, the extents that the service returns are:
{OnlineDataPlugin.Extents}
MaxX: 13.683332705481225
MaxY: 54.940306551493038
MinX: 6.180364501677226
MinY: 50.502795943676247

Does that seem right? When I request an image in those bounds, it gives me an error saying that no data exists in those bounds. Could be a server-side problem I'm thinking.

Cheers
--Chris

This good for online translations.

[babelfish.altavista.com]

Cheers

This good for online translations.

[babelfish.altavista.com]

Cheers

Hi Chris

Your translation is correct.
The values you´ve got are somehow confusing. For NRW they should be something like
MinX: 5.58
MaxX: 9.28
MinY: 50.18
MaxY: 52.25

For a complete map of germany they should be something like
MinX: 5.58
MaxX: 15.0
MinY: 47.14
MaxY: 54.50

So the box values you´ve got there are a large area of northern germany. As far as I know the geoserver NRW only contains maps of NRW as I´ve already had problems with a project on the border areas with MapBender.

When I connect to one of the NRW geoserver maps I either get no values at all or the following depending on the layer
MinX: -167984.51
MaxX: 172362.07
MinY: 5580271.61
MaxY: 5858091.88

If my interpretation of those values is correct it should be an area on the eastern coast of Scotland O_o

I played a little with the values and
Most interesting is the CCGIS Server I´ve mentioned. Except for the germany map the values are formated like those you´ve got and those layers won´t work. The values of the germany map are formated like those I get from the NRW geoserver and this map works just fine.
I already tried to format the Bounding Box like the CCGIS map and even chose a small area in the middle but I just get error messages.

Cheers
--Thomas



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2007 06:16AM by tiggalot.

I´ve taken a look at the XML file you get from the GetCapabilities inquiry on the NRW Geoserver. I´ve noticed that there were several EPSG projections and some of the x-, y-values on other projections seem correct. Is there a way you could let people chose wich EPSG Zone they want to use?

Cheers
--Thomas

That's certainly possible. I'm afraid I'm a bit strapped for time at the moment, but I'll add this to the list of enhancements I'm planning for the next iteration of this tool.

Thanks!
--Chris

This may be a dumb question, but does the online data plugin work with servers running on the ERMapper Image server system [www.ermapper.com]

Have been informed I may be able to get access to image servers which seem to have range of ArcGIS, Mapinfo and xml access options, but would like to know if Online Data plugin will allow this access. Servers have controlled user access requiring username etc.

Sorry, not really in a position or skilled enough to test this myself.

I don't think it would work with this dataset - it doesn't seem to use OGC or ArcXML formats, rather something of their own creation. If it is ArcXML, though, it ought to work. If you run into trouble trying to use it feel free to let me know.

Cheers,
--Chris

Chris,

Sorry, dont quite understand what you meant about the formats.

It appears that the datasets on the image server will be georeferenced ecw or jpg imagery, which mapwindow handles easily - but I have no idea if it puts it into another format on the server for the online transfer.

I have had a look at a tech page that outlines plugins for ArgMap and others which seems to just add icons and connection interface for this server.

Does the dataset format make any difference or is it the server access interface that is the issue?

I suppose 'format' wasn't the right word to use - it's a server access interface that's the issue. If they did have sample communications flows and such for ArcMap, it ought to be possible to create something similar for MapWindow. What was the URL of the tech page?

--Chris

Found this in the info on server:

The Image Web Server is OpenGIS compliant through the WMS protocol and therefore supports mapping applications that also comply to the OpenGIS WMS protocol. At present it supports integration of ESRI and MapInfo mapping applications with IWS installation.

does that make any difference?