Split data for OpenLayers

Question

(I gave up. I already spend 10 hours reading internet and I am not any closer to get the job done.) If I start at the beginning:

• I have country map divided into 12 regions.
• I have country map divided into 56 areas.
• I have country map divided into 211 townships.
• I have country map divided into 2700 local areas.
• I have buildings map approx. 500 thousands records.

I want to build interactive map, but on old computers OpenLayers(geojson) with 211 records is kind of slow. My idea was to show user only regions, then a user select a region and show areas for selected region, user select an area, and then I show user only townships for selected area and so on. I have no problem manually connect townships to areas and areas to regions, just need to split them.

My first idea was to split polygons in layer (Areas) into separate files with QGIS and load correct file in OpenLayers.

But then when searching the web how to auto split polygons in layer and save them in separate files I asked myself should I use Geoserver or something similar.

I hope I described my problem good enough to get some advice, should I use GeoServer or use separate files and how can I save polygons in layer to separate files? How should I approach the problem?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, Geoserver + PostGis will give you a solution to your problem. It's pretty easy to install thanks to the Boundless Suite (formerly OpenGeo Suite)

https://github.com/boundlessgeo/suite

When you've installed it, look at the Medford hospital or other example. It will show you how to make it work and geoserver documentation.

When you finish configuring DB and Geoserver, It'll give you a WMS service that you can display through Open Layers.