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

Time for action – creating a simple polygon style


Since you were a kid you have been familiarized with the political maps of the world. Countries were rendered with brown boundaries and there were different colors for each country. Isn't this a wonderful example for your first polygon styling? We will create a map with all features rendered with the same color and outline, to start with a simple example, but we will return to this style in the thematic mapping section:

Note

You may wonder how many different colors you need to build a map where each adjacent country doesn't share the same color. The answer is not really trivial, indeed it is a surprisingly little number. Four different colors are enough for a map with any number of polygonal features. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem for more information.

  1. Take the Rivers.xml file, make a copy to Countries.xml, and then edit the new file in your text editor.

  2. Go to line 9 and replace the text inside the Name element...