We recently had a requirement to provide a layer control with label and colour customisation for a Openlayers based web solution with a Mapserver WMS. As part of this project we were pleasantly surprised as to exactly how customisable Mapserver is through the URL request to the mapserv CGI  (perhaps i shouldn't be surprised!). What we first did is create a database driven layer control, enabling the user to turn layers and labels on or off. The url is .....

We have directly or indirectly been involved in Web based GIS for quite a few years now, and it is quite interesting how the approach has changed over time. The early days saw the reliance on client based plugins and has slowly progressed to no reliance on client side plugins and virtually no reliance on server side solutions. The Past My first attempt at a webGIS was a custom built solution rendering maps in SVG which essentially served as a stepping stone until a reliable c.....