Hi

I’ve been looking at Open Source GIS tools. In particular MapServer and GeoServer.

The problem I’m seeing is that to actually deploy these to the public you can’t use a regular $5/ month (or free) hosting service because you have to install these services on the server in ways that are not accessible in the average hosting scheme. So you either have to use a host that has MapServer installed (many of which look unreliable) or have a dedicated server or VPS. All of these options have a significant cost barrier ($30 - $200/month). I’m just doing this for fun.

Are there any free or inexpensive ways to have your GIS services hosted? Or are there any products that install in a way that you don’t need to access the root structure of the server?

I have tried OpenLayers and GeoExt but I don’t think a client side option will work for me because of the size of the datasets I am using. My base data will be vector data not WMS data (or something similar). I haven’t tried Google maps yet, but I will be looking into it.

Also, any thought on using SVG for GIS purposes?

Thanks