Exercise 1: Installing GeoMOOSE

Pull in the packages we need

# update the server
sudo apt-get update

# GeoMoose Runtime Deps
sudo apt-get install -y \
    apache2 libapache2-mod-php5 \
    mapserver-bin cgi-mapserver gdal-bin \
    php5-mapscript php5-sqlite php5-gd php5-curl

# GeoMoose Build Deps
sudo apt-get install -y \
    git-core \
    default-jre \
    python-sphinx make texlive texlive-latex-extra \
    naturaldocs

Get the GeoMoose source

sudo mkdir /srv/geomoose
sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /srv/geomoose
git clone --recursive https://github.com/geomoose/geomoose.git /srv/geomoose

Git and Versions

By default this installs the latest development version of GeoMoose which is a work in progress. It may be unstable and generally inappropriate for daily use. To install a released version switch to appropriate branch or tag and update the submodules.

Released branches are named rx.y where x and y are the major and minor version numbers. Released branches always point to the latest bugfix release for that branch. Tags point to a specific release and are formatted as rx.y.z where x and y are as with branches and z is the patch level. e.g:

cd /srv/geomoose
git checkout r2.9.0
git submodule update --init --recursive

As of this writing 2.9.0 is the latest version of GeoMoose.

Why do this with Git?

Using Git to control versions makes upgrades much easier. It can allow you to try different versions of GeoMoose, including the latest development versions without having to download mulitple ZIP files or create multiple directories.

Build the JavaScript code

It is necessary to rebuild the JavaScript code any time the code changes so that the optimized build (geomoose.html) contains the current code. This could occur if you make changes yourself, or if you switch to a different branch or tag.

cd /srv/geomoose/js/libs
./build_js.sh

Don’t be fooled! References to geomoose2.6 will appear while building GeoMoose. This is normal. All versions past 2.6.0 will show these messages. They are normal and the version of GeoMoose that was selected before is the version being built.

Configuring Apache

Apache will be used to serve GeoMoose but Apache needs to have files pointed in the right places.

First, we need to normalize the /srv/geomoose directory:

cd /srv/geomoose/js
ln -s ../services/php .
ln -s geomoose.html index.html

Make things available in the apache document root

sudo ln -s /srv/geomoose/js /var/www/html/geomoose
sudo ln -s /srv/geomoose/docs/build/html /var/www/html/geomoose-docs

Enable CGI apache module (for MapServer)

sudo a2enmod cgi

Restart apache

sudo apachectl restart

Setup local config files

GeoMoose uses two files to describe where local resources are located. The first is local_settings.ini. This uses the familiar .ini file format to point to temporary directories, MapServer, and the directory where MapFiles are loated.

These next steps can be intimidating to those unfamiliar with the command prompt. We will be using the nano text editor to edit these files. nano does not need to be scary! You can use arrow keys to navigate and it uses the CTRL key with a basic set of commands to save and exit.

local_settings.ini

Open local_settings.ini in the nano text editor

nano /srv/geomoose/conf/local_settings.ini

Type or copy/paste the following lines into that file:

[paths]
root=/srv/geomoose/maps/
mapserver_url=/cgi-bin/mapserv
temp=/tmp/

After those lines are in the file use the CTRL key and the X key at the same time. When prompted type Y to save your changes, and then ENTER to save the file.

temp_directory.map

This file is used to tell mapserver where to save data it uses temporarily to render images.

Open temp_directory.map in nano:

nano /srv/geomoose/maps/temp_directory.map

Change this line:

IMAGEPATH "/tmp/www/"

To this line:

IMAGEPATH "/tmp/"

After that line is in the file use the CTRL key and the X key at the same time. When prompted type Y to save your changes, and then ENTER to save the file.

Testing the install

In a web browser go to your GeoMoose site. It will be at http://<your VMs IP>/geomoose/geomoose.html You should see something like this: