TDS Godiva background map requests to WMS at godiva.reading.ac.uk fail - HTTP vs HTTPS

[ethanrd]

Hi all - We run all our TDS servers using HTTPS (HTTP requests get redirected to HTTPS). Some Godiva background map options make requests to HTTP WMS servers. As I understand it, browsers that find mixed content will modify requests from HTTP to HTTPS. It looks like the godiva.reading.ac.uk WMS server does not handle HTTPS requests. This is causing several/most of the Godiva background maps (including the default) on our TDS to fail and not get displayed.

Are there plans to update the godiva.reading.ac.uk WMS server to support HTTPS?

[guygriffiths]

The issue is that the godiva.reading.ac.uk server is currently down because there's nowhere to run it at the moment. It's an ongoing issue which may or may not get fixed. The latest release has a different default background map as a workaround.

[ethanrd]

OK. Thanks. I'll look at pulling that change into the EDAL-Java we use for THREDDS. I think there are other changes we need to fold in as well but I may not get to those changes this time around.

(Also, I am still getting WMS responses from http://godiva.reading.ac.uk - for instance this request works for me. Fails to connect if URL is changed to https.)

[ethanrd]

@guygriffiths - I'm not finding the fix for a new default background map in the code. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks!

[guygriffiths]

Sorry, I was mistaken, I haven't actually done a release since I made the change. It's in the develop branch here:
https://github.com/Reading-eScience-Centre/edal-java/blob/develop/godiva/src/main/java/uk/ac/rdg/resc/godiva/client/widgets/MapArea.java

[marceloandrioni]

Hello, I saw this post and remembered that the standalone ncWMS allows the user to create new layers (overlay and base) following the instructions in this doc (the Mandatory Parameters and Optional Parameters sections).

With this the admin can configure a ncWMS to use a non default base layer, e.g.: in my case I have a simple vector layer from Natural Earth hosted on a Geoserver running in the same server as the TDS.

I am not sure if the ncWMS "inside" TDS allows the same option, but if it does it could be a good way of bypassing the Reading WMS availability issue.

Here is the issue (solved by @guygriffiths) that motivated the extra options.

Thanks.

[ethanrd]

Thanks @guygriffiths. I grabbed your Godiva basemap changes from your develop branch and included it in the code for the next THREDDS release. I also updated the URL for the NASA Blue Marble WMS. (Created PR #144 if you want to grab that NASA Blue Marble WMS update.)

[ethanrd]

Hi @marceloandrioni - Thanks for the pointer. I'm not sure if the TDS-embeded ncWMS supports adding base layers with godiva3.properties file. I'll have to take a look.

[ethanrd]

@guygriffiths - Can you tell us the software and datasets you were using for the godiva.reading.ac.uk served background maps? We (Unidata) are considering setting up a server for background maps that our (at least) TDS servers could use. Thanks.

[guygriffiths]

Hi, sorry for the delay, I was on leave. We were serving background maps using geoserver. The datasets were the NASA blue marble and https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/