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Metacat's Use of Geoserver
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==========================
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GeoServer 2.0.2, an open source Web Mapping Service (WMS) written in Java, is 
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bundled with Metacat and can be used to render spatial data as web-deliverable 
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maps. Metacat uses OpenLayers (http://openlayers.org/) to provide a web-based 
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user interface for interacting with the generated maps. You can use any 
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WMS-compatible client (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, JUMP, UDig, OpenLayers, Mapbender, 
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Map Builder). 
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IMPORTANT: Regardless of whether you plan on using the mapping functionality 
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you should, for security purposes, configure GeoServer so that it doesn't 
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use the default password. For instructions, please see 
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Geoserver Configuration.
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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image051.jpg
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   :align: center
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   A map generated by Metacat's GeoServer. Points and "bounding boxes" 
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   represent the geographic extent of datasets stored in the KNB Metacat repository.
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GeoServer supports a wide variety of vector GIS data sources, which can be 
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styled using Styled Layer Descriptors (SLDs) and output as images (the default) 
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or raw vector data (GML or KML).
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Currently, GeoServer can be used with the following limitations:
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* GeoServer will only map documents that are publicly available. This is 
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  because the mapping server's support for permissions control is not as 
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  fine-grained as Metacat's.
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Metacat developers plan to continue extending and improving Metacat's mapping 
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capabilities. If you are interested in contributing to those efforts, or if 
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you are interested in learning more about the architecture and future plans for 
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the mapping software, please contact the Metacat  development 
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team  (metacat-dev@ecoinformatics.org).
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Installing and Configuring
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--------------------------
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The GeoServer webapp should be installed as a sibling of Metacat. If you do 
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NOT wish to run GeoServer, the deployment can be skipped, but any skins that 
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use maps will not render correctly. (NOTE: Geoserver recommends using a PermGen 
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space setting of at least 128MB.). 
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Metacat comes with a pre-configured data directory to be used by GeoServer. 
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This includes a world-countries base layer and a default configuration that 
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is already aware of Metacat's spatial cache. The Metacat configuration interface 
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is used to configure GeoServer to use this shared data directory. To further 
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configure GeoServer, use the Web-based configuration utility, 
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which is available at: http://your.server.com/context/geoserver.jsp 
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(e.g., http://knb.ecoinformatics.org/knb/geoserver.jsp). 
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Common configuration tasks include:
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* Adding a Map to a Web Page or Skin
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* Configuring the Size and Initial Extent of the Map
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* Configuring the Layout of the HTML Mapping Interface
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* Configuring the "Select Location Drop-down Menu
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* Configuring the Visual Portrayal of Geospatial Data (e.g., symbology and color)
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* Adding Other Spatial Datasets to the Web Map
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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image053.png
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   :align: center
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   GeoServer's Web-based administrative interface.
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Note: Some configurations may need to be made to the XML files as well.
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OpenLayers, which Metacat uses as the front-end for GeoServer's WMS service, 
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provides interface components or "widgets" (e.g., the map, a box zoom, layer 
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list, "Select Location" drop-down menu, scale bar, lat/long coordinates, and 
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a query form) that make it easy to deploy web-based mapping applications with 
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minimal coding.
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OpenLayers has three main configuration files used to customize the map interface.
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Default configurations are in::
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  $METACAT/lib/style/common/spatial/
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+----------------------------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
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| Document                         | Location      | Description                                                 |
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+==================================+===============+=============================================================+
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| The named location file          | locations.jsp | The list of pre-defined locations (name and lat/lon bounds) |
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+----------------------------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
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| Main map rendering functions     | maps.js       | Defines the map, widgets and their behavior                 |
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+----------------------------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
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| The rendered map and page layout | map.jsp       | Loads the map and controls the HTML layout of the widgets.  |
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+----------------------------------+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------+
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NOTE: By default, the first time Metacat is restarted, it generates a 
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"spatial cache" containing geographic information about documents in its 
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repository. This default behavior is specified in lib/metacat.properties, 
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where the regenerateCacheOnRestart parameter is set to true. The information 
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in the spatial cache is stored in a GIS-compatible format (the ESRI Shapefile) 
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and consists of the document name and its geographic coverage. When documents 
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are inserted, deleted, and updated in the Metacat repository, Metacat 
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automatically syncs the spatial cache to reflect the changes. Because 
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generating the cache can take a considerable amount of time (several minutes 
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in the case of a few thousand documents), Metacat resets the 
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regenerateCacheOnRestart property to false after the spatial cache has been 
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generated. Note that if you upgrade or reinstall Metacat, the spatial cache 
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will be regenerated again.
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Adding a Map to a Web Page or Skin
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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To add a map to a Web page, simply include the map interface using an iframe:: 
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  <iframe scrolling="no" frameborder="0" width="780" height="420" 
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          src="/knb/style/common/spatial/map.jsp">
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  </iframe>
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The map URL, ``/knb/style/common/spatial/map.jsp``, is 
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the default map interface. If you plan to customize the map interface, copy
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the map.jsp file into your skin's directory (either the default or 
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customized skin directory). 
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::
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  cp -r style/common/spatial/map.jsp /style/skins/<myskin>/spatial
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You can access the customized map with the URL: ``/knb/style/skins/<myskin>/spatial/map.jsp`` 
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Configuring the Size and Initial Extent of the Map
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Before you configure the size and initial extent of the map, make sure that you 
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have copied the map layout page into your skin's directory (See 
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:doc:`configuration` for directions). Once the file has been copied, you can 
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modify the map's initial extent in: ``${skin.dir}/spatial/map.jsp``.
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To change the map’s initial extent, edit the bounding box. The default is to 
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show the entire globe. The ``initMap()`` function should also be given the skin 
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name so that spatial search results can be correctly styled.
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::
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  <script type="text/javascript">
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      function init() {
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         var bounds = new OpenLayers.Bounds(-180,-90,180,90); 
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         // make the map for this skin 
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         initMap("<%=GEOSERVER_URL%>", "<%=SERVLET_URL%>", "default", bounds);
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      }
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  </script>
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The size (height/width) of the map can be controlled by the ``#map`` CSS entry 
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included in the ``map.jsp`` page.
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Configuring the Layout of the HTML Mapping Interface
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The size and initial extent of the map can be edited in : ${skin.dir}/spatial/map.jsp.
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The map.jsp is a simple container that can be included in other more complex 
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pages if desired. It contains the map, widgets and location dropdown list.
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Configuring the "Select Location" Drop-down Menu
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The locations that appear in the "Select Location" drop-down menu are specified 
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in the ``locations.jsp`` file. The locations.jsp can be copied from the common 
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spatial template into your skin directory. Each location is defined as an 
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HTML ``<option/>`` tag. Edit the value and label to edit or add new locations.
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::
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  <option value=“-149.725,68.475 -149.3254,68.725”> Arctic LTER (ARC)</option>
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Configuring the Visual Portrayal of Geospatial Data (e.g., symbology and color)
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Geospatial data sets are styled through the use of Styled Layer Descriptors 
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(SLD). The default SLDs used for the data points and data bounding boxes are in
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``/lib/spatial/geoserver/data/styles/`` and are named data_points_style.sld and 
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data_bounds_style.sld, respectively. 
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You can find a more detailed tutorial on using SLD with GeoServer in the GeoServer documentation::
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  http://docs.geoserver.org/
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Adding Other Spatial Datasets to the Web Map
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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If you have vector GIS data sets, such as weather or topographical information, 
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on your server that you'd like to include in the interactive map, you must 
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first register the data set with GeoServer. After the data set has been 
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registered, you can add the layer to the map. You can also add spatial layers 
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that have been made publically available through WMS (There are hundreds of 
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spatial data sets available. Check out wms-sites.com for good catalog). 
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Instructions for adding publically available layers are included at the end 
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of this section. 
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To register the data set and add it to the map:
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1. Point your browser to ``http://your.server/geoserver``, log in to GeoServer, 
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   and navigate to the "Data Stores" configuration page under ``Data > Stores``. 
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2. Create a new vector data source from a Shapefile in the “metacat” workspace.
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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image055.png
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   :align: center
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   Creating a new shapefile using GeoServers web-based administrative interface.
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3. The Description, if specified, is mostly used internally to provide other 
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   administrators with information about the DataStore. Click Submit.
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4. Navigate to the "Layers" configuration page under Data > Layers. 
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   Add a new Layer from your new data source.
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5. You should also define a spatial reference system (SRS) number for the new 
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   layer. Most lat/long data is "4326". If your data is in another projection, 
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   determine its spatial reference system using the help links provided.
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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image057.png
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   :align: center
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   GeoServer's FeatureType configuration. The SRS settings discussed in step 5 are highlighted.
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6. Style the layer using a style from the drop-down menu on the Publishing tab, 
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   or create a new SLD to create a new style object and corresponding SLD 
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   (this option provides more control over the style). 
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7. Try out the styled data set as a WMS layer using a the Layer Preview.
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.. figure:: images/screenshots/image058.png
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   :align: center
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   GeoServer's Layer Preview allows you to see an OpenLayer rendering of the new layer.
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8. Copy the default ``map.js`` file that assembles the map in OpenLayers 
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   (``style/common/spatial/map.js``) to your skin’s spatial directory.
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9. Edit the init() method to include your new layer in the map – either as an 
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   overlay or as a base layer.
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10. Point your browser to the map interface. Your new layer should appear with 
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    the existing ones.
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Adding External Spatial Data Made Publically Available through WMS
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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There are hundreds of sources of spatial data made publically available 
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through WMS (check out http://wms-sites.com for a good catalog). To add these 
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data sources to your map, add the layers in your skin’s ``spatial/map.js`` file.
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Spatial Queries
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---------------
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To find out which documents in the Metacat repository lie in a specified 
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geographic region, query the spatial cache using Metacat's spatial_query action. 
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Metacat can perform any query supported by the WFS/WMS standards.
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An example of a spatial query string is::
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  http://localhost/knb/metacat?action=spatial_query&xmin=-117.5&xmax=-64&ymin=3&ymax=46&skin=default
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Where ``xmin``, ``xmax``, ``ymin`` and ``ymax`` represent the western, eastern, 
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southern and northern bounding coordinates (the "bounding box"), respectively. 
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The spatial query action returns all documents that overlap or that are 
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contained inside the specified spatial coordinates. The result set is returned 
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as HTML using the style of the specified skin (in this example, default).
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