At the moment I'm doing an internship and my assignment is as following:
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design (and build) a (prototype) web application
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with a map on which the users can show selected data.
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The server collects metadata and a direct download url from the source.
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Users can download the datasets directly from the source.
- A system like this that already exists and it should be able to use layers from this system through a WMS protocol.
Now there has already been research done, but it wasn't done internally and I'm not sure if she understands what GIS is. She refers to GIS as a GIS server. GIS is the whole package though, isn't it?
The research report came up with using OpenLayers, GeoServer and GeoNetwork together.
OpenLayers is referred to as the webviewer, GeoServer as the GIS server and GeoNetwork as a geoportal.
As I understand it though, GeoNetwork can display maps just fine. Should I disregard the research done and just use GeoServer + GeoNetwork? Or maybe some other combination? As long as it's free OpenSource (part of the assignment) the language doesn't matter.
I've tried (and am still researching) to find the best solution myself, but a little nudge to the correct tools would be awesome. Before this I hadn't even heard of GIS, though I do find it pretty interesting.
Best Answer
If you download and install http://geonetwork-opensource.org, you've got all the tools you mentioned above in a single package... Also you might want to have a look at http://geonode.org, which also bundles all of these projects, but adds an easy-to-use interface.
For sure, both of these projects fit your usecase perfectly