In this example I have used the map of the Itasca demo of the Mapserver. I have done only small changes to the map file. The Itasca demo has (into the html file) the parameters of the path where to store the images:

IMAGEPATH "set in index.html" IMAGEURL "set in index.html"

I have changed them as fixed path

IMAGEPATH "/tmp/ms_tmp/" IMAGEURL "/ms_tmp/"

Than I have set as STATUS ON several layers for a better map.

The Database

The positions and the images paths that have to be shown on the map are stored into a table of a database in MySql. I have created a new database named "mapexample" and a new table "weather":

CREATE TABLE weather (

id bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment,

imagepath varchar(255) default NULL,

x double(16,4) default NULL,

y double(16,4) default NULL,

PRIMARY KEY (id)

)

and than I have inserted into the table the positions of the weather images and the path of every icon:

INSERT INTO `weather` VALUES (1, '/data/weather/icons/sunny.gif', 478107.0000, 5250301.0000); INSERT INTO `weather` VALUES (2, ''/data/weather/icons/cloudy.gif', 408107.0000, 5220301.0000); INSERT INTO `weather` VALUES (3, ''/data/weather/icons/storm.gif', 468107.0000, 5270301.0000); INSERT INTO `weather` VALUES (4, ''/data/weather/icons/variable.gif', 408107.0000, 5310301.0000);

It is not necessary for the images to be stored into a directory visible from the web, because are taken directly by the script and then merged with the map.

The PHPMapscript code Here is the code I have used for generating the map: