MapServer

MapServer is an Open Source geographic data rendering engine written in C. Beyond browsing GIS data, MapServer allows you create “geographic image maps”, that is, maps that can direct users to content. For example, the Minnesota DNR Recreation Compass provides users with more than 10,000 web pages, reports and maps via a single application. The same application serves as a “map engine” for other portions of the site, providing spatial context where needed.

By combining the Turnkey LAPP Web Stack and the Debian packages for MapServer and some other geodata tools, a Web Map Stack appliance is created. This can be used as a platform to develop custom websites/applications which contain maps or are centered around maps.

The appliance repository can be found at https://github.com/mverwijmeren/mapserver

Changes/additions to be made starting with the Turnkey LAPP code:

• Replace PyGreSQL with Psycopg. AFAIK Psycopg is the most popular PostgreSQL adapter for Python. It is actively developed. There is a version for Python 3.x available as well, so future upgrades should be less painful.
• Add GDAL and PostGIS, so a wide range of geodata formats can be used.
• Add Mapserver of course.
• Change the Apache configuration so /cgi-bin/ points to the location where Debian packages expect it to be.
• Submit to TurnKey Linux - #248

Ideas

• Add a tile cache, but which one? Most tile caches duplicate part of the functionality of MapServer. The one that is part of the MapServer Suite isn't available in Wheezy. Besides I don't know if it would actually work with MapServer 6.0.x or that it would require 6.2.x.
• Add a "Hello World" kind of application.