1.4.2. GetCapabilities

The following line shows an example of a WFS GetCapabilities request

http://publicatlas.microimages.com/sample_cgi/sample.cgi?service=WFS&request=GetCapabilities&version=1.1.0

The following graphic shows an extract of a possible GML result:

Result of the GetCapabilities request

Check it out! Type the GetCapabilities command in the address bar of your browser and have a look at the resulting file (you can save the file on your computer with right click on the browser window and choose "save page as...").

Count the layers that are listed in the GetCapabilities result. How many are there and what are they called like?

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Now that we know the layers that lie on the web feature server, we can request the single features of each layer. But first, you need some basic skills of how to build such a feature request.

There are several request attributes (query elements) - optional and required ones - for each WFS operation (see list in chapter 1.4.1. What WFS is). The indication of the operation together with these query elements are used to build a WFS request.
In this lesson, we only discuss two query elements of the GetFeature operation. If you are interested in all query elements of each WFS operation, have a look at the following pdf file: Web Feature Service Implementation Specification.