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Background 

        STUTTGART UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED 

SCIENCES 

The parameters of the GetCapabilities request are shown in Table 2: 

Mandatory 

Request Parameter 

Description 

Optional 

VERSION=version 

O 

Request version 

SERVICE=WMS 

M 

Service type 

REQUEST=GetCapabilities 

M 

Request name 

FORMAT=MIME_type 

O 

Output format of service metadata 

UPDATESEQUENCE=string 

O 

Sequence number or string for cache control 

Tab. 1

: The parameters are required by the GetCapabilities request (OPEN GEOSPATIAL 

CONSORTIUM, Web Map Service Specification, 2004) 

A  valid GetCapabilities request should  include all the parameters which specified  as 

mandatory in Table 2. The format of GetCapabilities request in a URL likes this: 

http://www.gis news.de/wms/getmapcap.php?VERSION=1.1.1&SERVICE=WM

S&REQUEST=GetCapabilities 

Listing 1: 

The format of GetCapabilities request in a URL

Inside  the  URL, 

http

  is  the  requested  Internet protocol. 

www.gis news.de

is  the 

server  name;

/wms/getmapcap.php

shows  the  path  of  the  document  on  the  server. 

The 

?

  indicates  the  starting  of  the  query  string.

SERVICE=WMS

  defines  the 

service  type, 

VERSION=1.1.1

  indicates  the  server  should  support  OGC  WMS 

version  1.1.1  and 

REQUEST=GetCapabilities

tells  the  server  the  user  asks  for the 

GetCapabilities service. 

The  response  of  the  GetCapabilities  request  is  a  XML  format  document  (see  Figure 

3). 

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