bbox for a particular feature of a layer in geoserver

Question

I am trying to get the bbox for a particular feature for a layer from my geoserver. For this I am trying using the following url:

http://example.com/geoserver/wfs?version=1.3.0&request=describeFeatureType&outputFormat=application/json&service=WFS&typeName=layerName&PROPERTYNAME=(DISTNAME,Sylhet)

Ok fine, I am getting the bbox in the response. But the response gives me the coordinates for that particular feature too. Its very clumsy to me and I just want the bbox as response not the coordinate.

For this how can I change my request?? Please help.

Answer 1

WFS has no way to just provide the bounding box of a feature.

However, you can install the WPS protocol, it has a process you can use to just extract the bounding box. It's going to be a complex POST request, you can build a sample of it using the "WPS builder" in the demo section

Answer 2

In your example request you are trying to obtain a bounding box from a description of a FeatureType, that could never work; the description tells you what type of data can exist in an actual Feature of that type:

So a DescribeFeatureType request for the type topp:states gives us:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xsd:schema xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" xmlns:maps="http://boundlessgeo.com" xmlns:nasa="http://nasa.gov" xmlns:ne="http://naturalearthdata.com" xmlns:nurc="http://www.nurc.nato.int" xmlns:og="http://opengeo.org" xmlns:osm="http://openstreemap.org" xmlns:topp="http://www.openplans.org/topp" xmlns:usgs="http://www.usgs.gov/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://www.openplans.org/topp">
  <xsd:import namespace="http://www.opengis.net/gml" schemaLocation="http://demo.opengeo.org:80/geoserver/schemas/gml/3.1.1/base/gml.xsd"/>
  <xsd:complexType name="statesType">
    <xsd:complexContent>
      <xsd:extension base="gml:AbstractFeatureType">
        <xsd:sequence>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="the_geom" nillable="true" type="gml:MultiSurfacePropertyType"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="STATE_NAME" nillable="true" type="xsd:string"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="STATE_FIPS" nillable="true" type="xsd:string"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="SUB_REGION" nillable="true" type="xsd:string"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="STATE_ABBR" nillable="true" type="xsd:string"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="LAND_KM" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="WATER_KM" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="PERSONS" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="FAMILIES" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="HOUSHOLD" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="MALE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="FEMALE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="WORKERS" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="DRVALONE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="CARPOOL" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="PUBTRANS" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="EMPLOYED" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="UNEMPLOY" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="SERVICE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="MANUAL" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="P_MALE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="P_FEMALE" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
          <xsd:element maxOccurs="1" minOccurs="0" name="SAMP_POP" nillable="true" type="xsd:double"/>
        </xsd:sequence>
      </xsd:extension>
    </xsd:complexContent>
  </xsd:complexType>
  <xsd:element name="states" substitutionGroup="gml:_Feature" type="topp:statesType"/>
</xsd:schema>

It tells us that topp:states can have a geometry, but not what the values are.

If you want the bounding box for the set of features that are of type topp:states then you just need to do a GetCapabilities request, so the following request http://demo.opengeo.org/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&request=GetCapabilities& tells us:

<FeatureType xmlns:topp="http://www.openplans.org/topp">
    <Name>topp:states</Name>
    <Title>USA Population</Title>
    <Abstract>2000 census data for United States.</Abstract>
    <ows:Keywords>
        <ows:Keyword>census</ows:Keyword>
        <ows:Keyword>united</ows:Keyword>
        <ows:Keyword>boundaries</ows:Keyword>
        <ows:Keyword>state</ows:Keyword>
        <ows:Keyword>states</ows:Keyword>
    </ows:Keywords>
    <DefaultCRS>urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326</DefaultCRS>
    <ows:WGS84BoundingBox>
        <ows:LowerCorner>-124.731422 24.955967</ows:LowerCorner>
        <ows:UpperCorner>-66.969849 49.371735</ows:UpperCorner>
    </ows:WGS84BoundingBox>
</FeatureType>

If you want to find information about a feature of type topp:states, you need to do a GetFeature request. If you want to get a feature by its identifier, then there is a stored procedure that will allow you to do this.

So for example to find out information about the topp:states feature with ID `states.1' you could use (returning JSON):

http://demo.opengeo.org/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0&request=GetFeature&STOREDQUERY_ID=urn:ogc:def:query:OGC-WFS::GetFeatureById&ID=states.1&outputformat=json&

and for information about the topp:states feature with ID `states.30' you could use (returning XML):

http://demo.opengeo.org/geoserver/wfs?service=WFS&version=2.0.0&request=GetFeature&STOREDQUERY_ID=urn:ogc:def:query:OGC-WFS::GetFeatureById&ID=states.30&