Web Feature Service (WFS)
Overview
Web Feature Service (WFS) is an OGC standard that provides an interface for accessing geospatial features over the web, allowing users to query and retrieve vector data. Unlike WMS which returns rendered images, WFS returns actual feature data (geometries and attributes) that can be analyzed, styled, and manipulated by the client.
Key Concepts
Feature is a geographic object with geometry (point, line, polygon) and associated attributes. GetCapabilities returns metadata about the service and available feature types. DescribeFeatureType returns the schema (structure) of a specific feature type. GetFeature retrieves actual feature data based on query parameters. Transaction (WFS-T) allows for creating, updating, and deleting features on the server. Filter encoding is an OGC standard for expressing spatial and attribute queries.
WFS Versions
| Version | Key Features |
|---|---|
| WFS 1.0.0 | Basic read operations, GML 2 output |
| WFS 1.1.0 | Paging, stored queries, GML 3 output |
| WFS 2.0.0 | Enhanced filtering, temporal queries, response paging |
Output Formats
Appendix
Created: 2025-12-13 | Modified: 2025-12-13