ReportIt – Adding WMS Layers

By David Crowther

The DynamicMaps ReportIt solution can be used for Contextual Mapping as well as incident reporting. In fact it is an ideal light web mapping interface which can be embedded in any existing web page.

In addition to revealing several Basemaps e.g. OSM, MapBox, OS Zoomstack etc…. you can create Data Layers loading Points, Lines and Polygons to represent data such as Tree Preservation Orders, Planning Apps, Winter Gritting Routes, Schools and Polling Stations. As well as a Search Tool which can be configured to search any layer e.g. your Address (LLPG) dataset.

Using a configurable Information Bubble you can show any number of attributes including hyperlinks to PDF documents, webpages and asset photographs.

If the Data Layers involve very complex geometry e.g. Flood Zones you may wish to use GeoServer to publish the Floods as a Web Map Service (WMS). These are lighter Data Layers and therefore will load far quicker in the map, thus giving your users a better mapping experience.

In order for ReportIt to render the WMS you can simply follow these steps when you create your new Data Layer:

1 – Set the Layer Type to be WMS

2 – In the URL box, take the start of the WMS URL from GeoServer (OpenLayers):

http://SERVERNAME:8080/geoserver/DynamicMaps/wms?service=WMS&version=1.1.0&request=GetMap&layers=

2 – then add the GeoServer Layer Name e.g.

DynamicMaps:TryMapThat_PostGIS_LSOA_Liverpool

3 - And then tag on the EPSG and add a transparent = true tag. The full URL will be similar to the below:

http://SERVERNAME:8080/geoserver/DynamicMaps/wms?service=WMS&version=1.1.0&request=GetMap&layers=DynamicMaps:TryMapThat_PostGIS_LSOA_
Liverpool&crs=EPSG:3857&format=image/png&transparent=true

4 - Once you have created the new WMS Data Layer, simply associate the new Data Layer to your ReportIt Incident type.

When you now open the Report Incident page you can show Basemapping, a Data Layer of spatial data e.g. Missed Bins and also a WMS Layer – in this case showing the LSOA’s by Deprivation indices which are styled and published by GeoServer.