The Web Map Service (WMS) allows software clients to reference map images over the Internet or a private intranet. The WMS implementation is based on the WMS 1.1.1 and 1.3.0 OGC specification. Using HTTP GET requests, the WMS provides georeferenced data to a client as an image for that would then displays this data as an image. Georeferenced data is information associated with maps that describe the real world extents of specific features and the projection upon which it is based.
The images can be provided as GIF, JPEG, PNG, and other image formats.
WMS provides operations that:
- describe the service capabilities such as available layers and coordinate system
- get an image of a map
- get information about features