Book Image

GeoServer Beginner's Guide

Book Image

GeoServer Beginner's Guide

Overview of this book

GeoServer is an open source server-side software written in Java that allows users to share and edit geospatial data. Designed for interoperability, it publishes data from any major spatial data source using open standards. GeoServer allows you to display your spatial information to the world. Implementing the Web Map Service (WMS) standard, GeoServer can create maps in a variety of output formats. OpenLayers, a free mapping library, is integrated into GeoServer, making map generation quick and easy. GeoServer is built on Geotools, an open source Java GIS toolkit.GeoServer Beginner's Guide gives you a kick start to build custom maps using your data without the need for costly commercial software licenses and restrictions. Even if you do not have prior GIS knowledge, you will be able to make interactive maps after reading this book.You will install GeoServer, access your data from a database, style points, lines, polygons, and labels to impress site visitors with real-time maps.Follow along through a step-by-step guide that installs GeoServer in minutes. Explore the web-based administrative interface to connect to backend data stores such as MySQL, PostGIS, MSSQL, and Oracle. Display your data on web-based interactive maps, style lines, points, polygons, and embed images to visualize this data for your web visitors. Walk away from this book with a working application ready for production.After reading the GeoServer Beginner's Guide, you will have beautiful, custom maps on your website built using your geospatial data.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
GeoServer Beginner's Guide
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Defining users, groups, and roles


To ensure data security, you need to recognize who is accessing your layers and your services. Anonymous access can't be used on secured data.

Security in GeoServer is based on a role system where each role defines a specific function. You can assign roles to users and groups, that is, assigning functions to real people using your system.

To organize your real users, GeoServer provides you with the user, group, and role concept. With the first two, you can insert real people into the GeoServer security subsystem and with roles you can grant rights to real users.

User definition

In GeoServer, a user is someone who can use the system, a real person, or another system. GeoServer stores a username, uniquely identifying the user, a password, and a set of key/value pairs to store general information about it. A user can be disabled.

Group definition

A group is a set of users. GeoServer stores a list of usernames belonging to the group and a group name, uniquely identifying...