[GIS] Looking for open source component to create PDF from WMS in a web application

open-source-gispdfwms

I want to create a PDF from WMS in a web map application.

Please can anyone recommend a robust component? I'd like free open-source under an relatively business-friendly licence (no GPL, BSD/MIT etc. would be ideal, LGPL would be OK).

  • Our WMS layers are produced by ncWMS and UNM MapServer. We will also want to overlay some layers from external WMS providers.
  • EDIT: We are developing our own JavaScript client based on OpenLayers.
  • EDIT: We have some backend code in Java. We would also consider PHP or other platforms to create the PDF.

MapFish would be excellent but it is GPL.

Best Answer

I use Cairo and Pango (both LGPL) together to create PDF maps.

It's a low level solution, but Cairo has superb vector drawing and raster handling capabilities, whilst Pango is excellent at typesetting. The overall results are great, but it does require a lot of coding. For instance if I want to create a map using a WMS output I construct a WMS request, request the image and draw it onto a PDF canvas using Cairo.

I use these libraries via Java-Gnome but there are bindings to both in most languages.

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