Efficient WMS or TMS Loop for Radar data?

Question

I'm looking for an efficient way to loop radar data from a Tilecache or WMS Server. Right now, I make an array of layers and increment through them, but this seems inefficient since I end up with a lot of layers for what should be just one layer. I saw this post: http://gis.stackexchange.com/a/20836/7387, however, I'm not sure how to go about implementing what is suggested...

          {Destroy Layers} |10|11...19|20| {Start Loading Layers}
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
                           ↑
        Timespan           Current Possition

Can you do this on a single layer? A simple example to follow would be very helpful. Thanks!

Answer 1

Depending on what you need it may be that the new WMS animator from GeoServer could be a solution to your problem. See http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/tutorials/animreflector.html for more details.

This blog post gives a longer account and an example.