GIS often requires specialist hosting in order to be able to handle the different technologies needed for getting everything online. The hosting solution must be able to handle commercial and open source technologies such as PHP, Mapscript, PostGIS and Mapserver. The latter, Mapserver is a very popular open source application which specializes in rendering geographical images ready for the web for the user to use, search and edit. Mapserver uses various programming languages which include Pearl, PHP, Python, Java and C# and is available on most operating systems.

Some of the most well know GIS applications on the market at the moment are Google Maps and Live Maps. GIS hosting and map hosting is a very complex process which require a lot of technological knowledge to implement and maintain. A quick search on the Internet will reveal numerous hosting companies who specialize in hosting GIS and special mapping software. In the future we will certainly be hearing and seeing much more of these technologies coming into the mainstream which is partially thanks to technological advancements in creating more powerful personal computers, laptops and cell phones.

What You Should Know About GIS Hosting