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Cloud-based GIS platform for creating and sharing interactive maps and geospatial analysis
Open-Source Projects
Discover top open-source software, updated regularly with real-world adoption signals.
Discover top open-source software, updated regularly with real-world adoption signals.
Powerful CGI engine for creating web‑based GIS maps and services
MapServer delivers a configurable CGI program to generate maps, scalebars, and spatial queries, supporting numerous data formats and extensible via Python, PHP, Java, and JavaScript.
MapServer is a mature, high‑performance CGI engine that enables developers to publish web‑based GIS applications without writing code. By configuring a simple CGI program, users can render maps, add scalebars, and perform point, area, and feature queries across a wide range of spatial data sources.
The core, written in C, leverages GDAL/OGR for raster and vector support and implements OGC standards such as WMS, WFS, WCS, and SOS. MapServer can be extended through MapScript bindings for Python, PHP, Java, JavaScript, and other languages, allowing integration into existing web stacks. It runs under standard web servers (Apache, Nginx, etc.) as a CGI module, making it suitable for on‑premise, cloud VM, or containerized deployments.
Ideal for organizations that need reliable, standards‑compliant map services, teams with existing GIS data pipelines, and developers comfortable managing CGI configurations. Its flexibility and extensive format support make it a solid foundation for custom web mapping solutions.
When teams consider MapServer, these hosted platforms usually appear on the same shortlist.
Looking for a hosted option? These are the services engineering teams benchmark against before choosing open source.
Publish satellite imagery via WMS
Provides a standards‑compliant map service accessible by GIS clients and web applications.
Generate printable PDF maps for field reports
Creates high‑resolution PDFs with custom symbology and layout directly from the server.
Serve dynamic feature queries from PostGIS
Delivers real‑time vector data over the web, enabling interactive querying and analysis.
Embed map tiles in a PHP web portal using MapScript
Integrates seamless map display within an existing web application without additional client libraries.
See the LICENSE.md file in the repository for full licensing details.
Through GDAL/OGR, MapServer supports a wide range of raster and vector formats, including GeoTIFF, Shapefile, PostGIS, and many others.
MapServer implements WMS, WFS, WCS, and SOS, allowing interoperability with standard GIS clients.
It runs as a CGI program under common web servers such as Apache or Nginx, and can be containerized for cloud environments.
Yes, MapScript bindings let you write extensions in Python, PHP, Java, JavaScript, and other languages.
Project at a glance
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