Map images when using Zoom and Pan features

[Hai-Etlik]

I'm interested in creating an interactive map on the web that will allow users to select layers of information that will populate on the map. I would also like the map to have zoom and pan capabilities. My confusion lies in trying to understand how the zoom function is programmed.

How many different images of the "oblique" map (the map image that does not change) would I need to create/host on a WMS to have a satellite view and a town view? 2? I want to make sure that I have the appropriate artwork before moving forward with programming.

I've never heard "oblique" used that way. Do you mean the "base map", the map displayed at the bottom of the stack of layers as a reference for the "overlay" layers?

Zoom, Pan, Layer switching etc is all taken care of by a slippy map library like OpenLayers or Leaflet. You point it at the WMS layers and do a bit of configuration. There isn't any real programming to do unless you want to do something fancy.

Switching out between pre-rendered maps depending on scale could be done a few ways. I'd go with setting it up on the server side, but that's because that's what I'm more familiar with. If using GeoServer I'd use scale dependant styles to turn them on and off, and a layer group to combine them. It could also be done in the slippy map client, but I don't know as much about that side of things.