# MapServer/MapServer

Source code of the MapServer project.  Please submit pull requests to the 'main' branch.

Repository: https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/mapserver
Homepage: https://mapserver.org
Language: C
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: c, mapserver, ogc, wms, wfs, wcs, sos, gml, ogc-services, geospatial, osgeo, web, map, mapping, web-mapping, gdal, speed, engine, foss4g, ogc-api
Last push: 2026-09-02T12:38:13+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 97/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 100, release rhythm 92, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5265, "days_push": 0, "days_rel": 54, "gap_med": 26, "n_releases_24m": 12}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1213, forks 419 (observed 2026-09-03T02:15:06.573991+00:00)

## What it is
MapServer is an open-source geographic data rendering engine written in C for publishing spatial data and interactive mapping applications to the web. It runs as a CGI program supporting OGC standards like WMS, WFS, WCS, and OGC API, with scripting bindings via MapScript.

## Use cases
- serve web map services (WMS/WFS/WCS) from my spatial data
- render interactive maps on the web from PostGIS or shapefiles
- publish OGC API Features endpoints
- build a web GIS application without writing much code
- generate map images, legends, and scalebars on demand
- serve raster and vector geodata over HTTP

## When to choose
- you need standards-compliant OGC web map/feature services
- you want a mature, battle-tested C-based map engine with broad format support via GDAL
- you need high-performance server-side map rendering with advanced cartography

## When to avoid
- you want a full desktop GIS application
- you need a simple tile cache only (consider MapCache)
- you prefer a modern JS-based mapping stack like MapLibre with vector tiles

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: stable
- function: http-server, image-processing, geospatial
- domain: web-development
- platform: windows, cross-platform, c
- tags: gis, wms, wfs, ogc, map-rendering, cgi, mapscript, osgeo, gdal, postgis, maps, geospatial, linux, macos, web-server

## Member repositories
- MapServer/MapServer (main) score 97

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:06.573991+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:17:58.492893+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/MapServer/MapServer (fetched 2026-09-03T02:15:06.573991+00:00, sha 21d657b38da9)
  - homepage: https://mapserver.org (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.695455+00:00, sha 9f20251dac10)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/about.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.707724+00:00, sha 19353bccf4da)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/faq.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.705104+00:00, sha 557c55fddbd6)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/changelog-8-6.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.709508+00:00, sha 5f89329daac8)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/mapcache/changelog-1-16.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.711504+00:00, sha d386697daf22)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/changelog-8-4.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.713156+00:00, sha 1a18a2a00de5)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/changelog-8-2.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.715223+00:00, sha b67e7b9580cd)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/mapcache/changelog-1-14.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.717590+00:00, sha 9c5d82145591)
  - site_page: https://mapserver.org/development/changelog/tinyows/changelog-1-2.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:25:50.719443+00:00, sha a93849c131a2)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.