00001 /*! \mainpage Introduction
00002 <div class="mainpage">
00003 <!-- This is the index.html page that the user first sees. -->
00004 
00005 <p>The Feature Data Objects (FDO) API provides access to data in a 
00006 data store. A provider is a specific implementation of the FDO API 
00007 that provides access to data in a particular data store. The FDO 
00008 Provider for WMS provides FDO with access to a WMS-based data store.
00009 </p>
00010 <p>An Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS)
00011 produces maps of spatially referenced data dynamically from
00012 geographic information. This international standard defines a
00013 "map" to be a portrayal of geographic information as a
00014 digital image file suitable for display on a computer screen.
00015 A map is not the data itself. Maps by WMS are generally
00016 rendered in a pictorial format, such as PNG, GIF or JPEG, or 
00017 occasionally as vector-based graphical elements in Scalable
00018 Vector Graphics (SVG) or Web Computer Graphics Metafile
00019 (WebCGM) formats.
00020 
00021 <p>The FDO Provider for WMS has the following characteristics: 
00022 </p>
00023 <ul>
00024   <li> The FDO Provider for WMS serves up map information originating 
00025   from an OGC Basic Web Map Service that provides pictorially formatted 
00026   images, such as PNG, GIF, or JPEG. 
00027   <li> WMS map data is exposed through an FDO feature schema whose classes 
00028   contain an FDO Raster property definition. The FDO schema exposed from 
00029   the FDO Provider for WMS conforms to a pre-defined FDO schema that is 
00030   specific to WMS and that acts as the basis for all FDO interaction with 
00031   WMS data, regardless of the originating source of the WMS images.
00032   <li> WMS data manipulation operations are limited to querying features 
00033   based on spatial and non-spatial constraints. Schema manipulation 
00034   operations are not supported.
00035 </ul>
00036 <p>The FDO Provider for WMS can run in a multi-platform environment, 
00037 including Windows and Linux.
00038 </p>
00039 <p>
00040 For more information, see <i>The Essential FDO</i> (FET_TheEssentialFDO.pdf) 
00041 and the <i>FDO Developer's Guide</i> (FDG_FDODevGuide.pdf).
00042 </p>
00043 
00044 <br>
00045 </div>
00046 */
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