In this chapter, we learned that it is possible to use GeoServer as a spatial analysis platform through the use of WPS. We also saw that it is possible to extend the capabilities of GeoServer as a spatial analysis platform by building and adding new WPS processes. Even better, we saw that this can be accomplished using accessible scripting languages such as Python and JavaScript.

We saw how WPS processes can be used to perform a wide variety of analysis, and GeoServer comes with a large selection of processes out of the box. We saw how it is possible to chain processes together so that the result of one process is used as the input to another, thus enabling us to create complex chains of processes that can be executed from a single request. This capability makes GeoServer a great platform for complex server-side spatial analysis.

Extensibility of a platform is the key to its survival. With the inclusion of GeoScript, the ability to extend GeoServer is opened up to a much larger community...