Connecting to WMS and OGC Web Services

NASA WorldWind Java ships with a comprehensive set of OGC client libraries that speak WMS, WCS, KML, GML, and OWS Common natively. The gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc package tree mirrors the OGC specification namespace hierarchy — ogc.wms, ogc.wcs, ogc.kml, ogc.gml, and ogc.ows — and every capabilities document type exposes a rich Java object model rather than raw XML. This lets you build service-driven globes that discover layer metadata at runtime, respond to changing server configurations, and compose imagery and elevation from multiple standards-compliant sources.

WMS Capabilities

WMSCapabilities (in gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms) is the entry point for any WMS integration. Call the static WMSCapabilities.retrieve(URI) factory method to fetch and parse the GetCapabilities response from a WMS server, then call parse() to populate the object model:

FetchWMSCapabilities.java

import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSCapabilities;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSLayerCapabilities;

import java.net.URI;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

URI serverURI = new URI("https://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms");

WMSCapabilities caps = WMSCapabilities.retrieve(serverURI);
caps.parse();

// Enumerate image formats the server supports
Set<String> formats = caps.getImageFormats();
// e.g. "image/png", "image/jpeg", "image/gif"

// Get all named (requestable) layers
List<WMSLayerCapabilities> namedLayers = caps.getNamedLayers();
for (WMSLayerCapabilities layer : namedLayers)
{
    System.out.printf("Layer: %s — %s%n",
        layer.getName(), layer.getTitle());
}

// Retrieve a specific layer by its WMS name
WMSLayerCapabilities modisLayer = caps.getLayerByName("MOD_LSTD_CLIM_M");

// Get the GetMap request URL for a given protocol and method
String getMapURL = caps.getRequestURL("GetMap", "http", "Get");

Key WMSCapabilities methods:

Method	Returns	Description
`getImageFormats()`	`Set<String>`	MIME types the server accepts for GetMap responses
`getNamedLayers()`	`List<WMSLayerCapabilities>`	All requestable named layers
`getLayerByName(String)`	`WMSLayerCapabilities`	A specific layer by its `<Name>` element
`getRequestURL(String, String, String)`	`String`	GetMap / GetFeatureInfo endpoint URL
`getServiceInformation()`	`OGCServiceInformation`	Server title, abstract, keywords, contact
`getCapabilityInformation()`	`WMSCapabilityInformation`	Layer tree and request descriptions

WMSLayerCapabilities exposes layer-level metadata including getTitle(), getAbstract(), getBoundingBoxes(), getStyles(), and getStyleByName(String).

Cache the WMSCapabilities object for the lifetime of your application session. Calling WMSCapabilities.retrieve() issues an HTTP GET to the server. Repeated calls on every layer toggle will introduce unnecessary latency and load on the service.

Creating a WMS Layer

WMSTiledImageLayer (in gov.nasa.worldwind.wms) is a BasicTiledImageLayer subclass that constructs compliant WMS GetMap request URLs from its configuration. Instantiate it with a WMSCapabilities document and an AVList of layer parameters:

CreateWMSLayer.java

import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVKey;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVListImpl;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSCapabilities;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.wms.WMSTiledImageLayer;

import java.net.URI;

// Retrieve capabilities (do this once and reuse)
WMSCapabilities caps = WMSCapabilities.retrieve(
    new URI("https://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms"));
caps.parse();

// Configure the layer parameters
AVListImpl params = new AVListImpl();
params.setValue(AVKey.LAYER_NAMES,  "MOD_LSTD_CLIM_M");  // WMS layer name(s)
params.setValue(AVKey.STYLE_NAMES,  "");                   // WMS style name(s)
params.setValue(AVKey.IMAGE_FORMAT, "image/png");          // GetMap format

// Optional: tune retrieval timeouts
params.setValue(AVKey.URL_CONNECT_TIMEOUT, 30_000);
params.setValue(AVKey.URL_READ_TIMEOUT,    30_000);

// Construct and register the layer
WMSTiledImageLayer wmsLayer = new WMSTiledImageLayer(caps, params);
wmsLayer.setName("MODIS Land Surface Temperature");
wmsLayer.setOpacity(0.8);

wwd.getModel().getLayers().add(wmsLayer);

Key AVKey parameters used by WMSTiledImageLayer:

`AVKey` constant	Typical value	Description
`AVKey.LAYER_NAMES`	`"layerA,layerB"`	Comma-separated WMS layer names
`AVKey.STYLE_NAMES`	`"default"`	Comma-separated WMS style names
`AVKey.IMAGE_FORMAT`	`"image/png"`	GetMap response format
`AVKey.WMS_VERSION`	`"1.3.0"`	WMS version string
`AVKey.COORDINATE_SYSTEM`	`"EPSG:4326"`	CRS/SRS for the request
`AVKey.WMS_BACKGROUND_COLOR`	`"0xFFFFFF"`	Transparent background color
`AVKey.DATASET_NAME`	`"MyLayer"`	Cache key used for tile storage
`AVKey.DATA_CACHE_NAME`	`"MyApp/WMS/..."`	File-store cache subdirectory

If the WMS server advertises application/bil as an image format, WorldWind’s factory system interprets the service as an elevation source and creates a WMSBasicElevationModel instead of a WMSTiledImageLayer. The WMSLayersPanel.getFactoryKeyForCapabilities() method demonstrates this detection: it checks caps.getImageFormats() for the "application/bil" substring and returns AVKey.ELEVATION_MODEL_FACTORY or AVKey.LAYER_FACTORY accordingly.

WMS Layer Manager

The WMSLayerManager example application (gov.nasa.worldwindx.examples.WMSLayerManager) demonstrates a complete UI-driven WMS browser. It uses WMSLayersPanel — a JPanel subclass that retrieves and displays all named layers from a WMS server URL, then adds or removes each selected layer from the WorldWindow.

UseWMSLayerManager.java

import gov.nasa.worldwindx.examples.WMSLayersPanel;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;

// Each tab in WMSLayerManager wraps a WMSLayersPanel for one server
WMSLayersPanel panel = new WMSLayersPanel(
    wwd,
    "https://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms",
    new Dimension(400, 600));

WMSLayersPanel pre-configures the WMS servers listed in WMSLayerManager.servers:

WMSLayerManagerServers.java

// From WMSLayerManager.java
protected static final String[] servers = new String[] {
    "https://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms",
    "https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/geoserver/wcs"
};

WCS Elevation

OGC Web Coverage Service (WCS) 1.0.0 endpoints that serve elevation data are handled by WCSElevationModel (in gov.nasa.worldwind.terrain). Construct it from a parsed WCS100Capabilities document:

CreateWCSElevationModel.java

import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVKey;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVListImpl;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wcs.wcs100.WCS100Capabilities;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.terrain.WCSElevationModel;

import java.net.URI;

WCS100Capabilities wcsCaps = WCS100Capabilities.retrieve(
    new URI("https://data.worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/elev"));
wcsCaps.parse();

AVListImpl wcsParams = new AVListImpl();
wcsParams.setValue(AVKey.COVERAGE_IDENTIFIERS, "SRTM30");  // coverage identifier
wcsParams.setValue(AVKey.FORMAT_SUFFIX, ".bil");     // BIL = binary elevation

WCSElevationModel wcsElev = new WCSElevationModel(wcsCaps, wcsParams);

// Install as the globe's elevation model
wwd.getModel().getGlobe().setElevationModel(wcsElev);

For compositing WCS elevation with an existing model, wrap both in a CompoundElevationModel. See the Imagery & Elevation guide for the composition pattern.

KML (OGC)

KML 2.2 is an OGC standard, and WorldWind’s gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.kml package is a full KML/KMZ parser and renderer. Loading KML from a URL — including from OGC-compliant WFS GML with KML wrappers — uses the same KMLRoot.createAndParse() entry point. See the KML & COLLADA guide for complete details.

GML Support

The gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.gml package provides parsers for GML 3.x geometry primitives used internally by WCS capabilities documents and elsewhere:

Class	GML element
`GMLEnvelope`	`<gml:Envelope>` — an axis-aligned bounding box
`GMLEnvelopeWithTimePeriod`	Envelope with temporal extent
`GMLRectifiedGrid`	`<gml:RectifiedGrid>` — used in WCS coverage descriptions
`GMLGrid`	`<gml:Grid>` — grid origin and extent
`GMLPos`	`<gml:pos>` — a single position coordinate
`GMLLimits`	`<gml:limits>` — grid index bounds
`GMLGridEnvelope`	`<gml:GridEnvelope>` — low/high index bounds
`GMLOrigin`	`<gml:origin>` — grid origin position

These classes are used automatically when WCS or WFS documents are parsed; you rarely need to instantiate them directly.

OWS Common

OGC OWS Common base types shared across WMS, WCS, and WFS services are in gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.ows:

Class	Purpose
`OWSCapabilities`	Abstract base for all OWS-family capabilities documents
`OWSServiceIdentification`	Service title, abstract, keywords, and fees
`OWSServiceProvider`	Contact name, organisation, and online resource
`OWSOperationsMetadata`	Declared operations and their HTTP endpoints
`OWSOperation`	A single service operation descriptor
`OWSWGS84BoundingBox`	Axis-aligned bounding box in WGS-84
`OWSConstraint`	Parameter constraint (allowed values list)

For WMS specifically, the non-OWS OGCCapabilities base class (in gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc) provides getServiceInformation() → OGCServiceInformation and getCapabilityInformation() → OGCCapabilityInformation. WMSCapabilities extends this base:

InspectWMSServiceInfo.java

import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.OGCServiceInformation;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSCapabilities;

WMSCapabilities caps = WMSCapabilities.retrieve(serverURI);
caps.parse();

OGCServiceInformation serviceInfo = caps.getServiceInformation();
System.out.println("Service title: " + serviceInfo.getServiceTitle());
System.out.println("Service abstract: " + serviceInfo.getServiceAbstract());

COLLADA

COLLADA 3D models are referenced from KML <Model> elements and parsed automatically by the gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.collada package when KML is loaded. See the KML & COLLADA guide for a full description of the COLLADA pipeline and the relevant parser classes.

Full Example: WMS Layer from a Capabilities URL

The following snippet shows the complete end-to-end workflow for discovering and adding a WMS layer at runtime, suitable for embedding in an application’s “Add Layer” dialog:

FullWMSSetup.java

import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVKey;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.avlist.AVListImpl;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSCapabilities;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.ogc.wms.WMSLayerCapabilities;
import gov.nasa.worldwind.wms.WMSTiledImageLayer;

import java.net.URI;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

// Step 1: fetch and parse the capabilities document
//         (run this off the EDT in a background thread)
URI serverURI = new URI("https://neowms.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/wms/wms");
WMSCapabilities caps = WMSCapabilities.retrieve(serverURI);
caps.parse();

// Step 2: discover available layers
List<WMSLayerCapabilities> layers = caps.getNamedLayers();
WMSLayerCapabilities chosen = layers.get(0); // pick the first for this example

// Step 3: select an image format
Set<String> formats = caps.getImageFormats();
String format = formats.contains("image/png") ? "image/png" : "image/jpeg";

// Step 4: configure the AVList
AVListImpl params = new AVListImpl();
params.setValue(AVKey.LAYER_NAMES,  chosen.getName());
params.setValue(AVKey.STYLE_NAMES,  "");
params.setValue(AVKey.IMAGE_FORMAT, format);
params.setValue(AVKey.DATA_CACHE_NAME,
    "WMS/" + serverURI.getHost() + "/" + chosen.getName());

// Step 5: create and register the layer
//         (switch back to the EDT for this step)
WMSTiledImageLayer wmsLayer = new WMSTiledImageLayer(caps, params);
wmsLayer.setName(chosen.getTitle() != null ? chosen.getTitle() : chosen.getName());

wwd.getModel().getLayers().add(wmsLayer);
wwd.redraw();

Set AVKey.DATA_CACHE_NAME to a path that encodes the server host and layer name (as shown above). This prevents tile collisions when the user adds multiple layers from different servers, and ensures that cached tiles from one server are never mistakenly served for another.

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Configuration & Deployment

Connecting to WMS and OGC Web Services

WMS Capabilities

Creating a WMS Layer

WMS Layer Manager

WCS Elevation

KML (OGC)

GML Support

OWS Common

COLLADA

Full Example: WMS Layer from a Capabilities URL

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Configuration & Deployment

Documentation Index

​WMS Capabilities

​Creating a WMS Layer

​WMS Layer Manager

​WCS Elevation

​KML (OGC)

​GML Support

​OWS Common

​COLLADA

​Full Example: WMS Layer from a Capabilities URL

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

WMS Capabilities

Creating a WMS Layer

WMS Layer Manager

WCS Elevation

KML (OGC)

GML Support

OWS Common

COLLADA

Full Example: WMS Layer from a Capabilities URL