State of GeoServer provides an update on our community and reviews the new and noteworthy features for 2018. GeoServer is a web service for publishing your geospatial data. using industry standards for vector, raster and mapping. We have an active community and a lot to cover for 2.12 and 2.13 release, as well what is cooking in September’s 2.14 release. Each release provides exciting new features, this talk covers diverse improvements across GeoServer: * OGC compliance work for WFS 2.0 and WMTS 1.0, WFS 3.0 support * improvements for cloud deployments * cascade WMTS services * progress in NetCDF support * getting ready for the Java 18.9 roadmap * And much more… Attend this talk for a cheerful update on what is happening with this popular OSGeo project. Whether you are an expert user, a developer, or simply curious what GeoServer can do for you.

1. State of
GeoServer
FOSS4G 2018 edition!

2. Andrea Aime
Technical Lead
andrea.aime@geo-solutions.it
@geowolf
GeoSolutions
Innovative, robust and cost-effective
solutions leveraging best-of-breed
Open Source products.
This presentation is brought to you by
Jody Garnett
Community Lead
jgarnett@boundlessgeo.com
@jodygarnett
Boundless
Provides geospatial tools and
services for managing data and
building applications.
Ian Turon
Open Source Evangelist
ian@ianturton.com
@ijturton
Astun technologies
Passionate about geography and
passionate about open (source,
standards and data).

3. GeoServer at a Glance
Java Web Application to share and
edit geospatial data.
Publish data from any major spatial
data source using open standards.
Core Protocols
WMS – maps
WFS – vector
WFS-T – editing
WCS – coverage
WMTS – tiles
TMS – tiles
WMS-C – tiles
Extension/community protocols
WPS – process
CSW – search
OpenSearch for Earth Observation – search

4. GeoServer 2018
What’s in a year?

5. stable maintenancedevelopment
September 2017 March 2018 September 2018 March 2019
2.12.x
2.13.x
2.14.x
Releases covered by this presentation

6. Are you using a older version? Upgrade!
● User list and stack exchange typically covers only supported versions
○ Today it means 2.13.x and 2.12.x
○ In September it will mean 2.14.x and 2.13.x
● Security fixes being added to
supported versions only
● Please upgrade your GeoServer
installations!

7. Upgrade? What’s in it for me?
● Much!
● Let’s check what’s new in 2.12,
2.13 and in the upcoming 2.14
releases
● Check the bottom of each slide to
see who sponsored a certain
feature, who implemented it, and
what version contains it
VersionAuthorSponsor

8. Vector data sources
Precisely placed and attributed!

9. GeoPackage graduated from community module to “core”:
● Provides an sqlite database containing vector or raster data
○ Initial idea from spatialite project
○ Now an OGC Standard to replace shapefile and personal file geodatabase
● GeoPackage improvements:
○ Bug fix - raster mosaic geopackage had y-axis inverted.
○ Support for spatial indexes an RnD topic
● Additional GeoPackage community modules
○ GeoPackage WMS output available as a community module
○ GeoPackage WFS output format
○ GeoPackage WPS output format
GeoPackage support built-in!
2.12
GeoSolutions
Boundless
Community
Boundless Suite

10. GeoPackage performance improvements
GeoPackage reading and rendering:
● Up to two times faster
on large datasets
● Up to 50% faster as you zoom in
GeoPackage performance is
now on par with PostGIS
(Shapefile remains fastest / most optimized)
2.13
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
Community

11. MongoDB
Graduated to extension status!
● Makes use of the supported GeoTools
MongoDB DataStore
● Publish information stored in the MongoDB
Document Database, via a mapping configuration
2.14
Nuno Oliveira
GeoSolutions
NPRA

12. Support for more PostgreSQL data types
● Basic HStore and JSON data types support.
Both render as a JSON formatted string field in
WFS output (2.13.x), read only, no filtering
support
● Array support in progress (2.14.x), read, write,
limited filtering
● Geometry XYZM support (2.14.x)
2.13 - 2.14
Daniele Romagnoli - Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
MDA / DLR

13. Raster data sources
Pixels, pixels, billions of them!

14. ● Initial version in 2.11
● Several fixes in 2.12, e.g.
accuracy, performance,
dateline crossing handling
● Being tested against global
mosaics of Sentinel2 (each
image in a different UTM
zone), more
improvements/fixes incoming
Heterogeneous CRS image mosaics
2.11/2.12Boundless/GeoSolutionsRnD/DLR
UTM60 image footprints UTM1 image footprints
Dateline wrapped
image mosaic

15. Coverage views from heterogeneous bands
2.13
Source data
(e.g. Sentinel 2)
A new feature in 2.13 is the ability to define a coverage view using mix bands from
seperate files, at different resolutions, into a single multiband coverage view.
Daniele Romagnoli - Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
DLR
Virtual multiband coverage Select 3 bands
and contrast stretch

16. S3 GeoTIFF Community Module + Mosaic
Support for GeoTiffs hosted on Amazon S3
● In 2.14.x, can be coupled with image mosaic to support mosaics of AWS
images (experimental!)
2.12 - 2.14
Devon / Niels
Boundless
Boundless
s3://landsat-pds/L8/001/002/LC80010022016230LGN00/LC8001
0022016230LGN00_B1.TIF?useAnon=true&awsRegion=US_WEST_2

17. Web Map Service
Got maps?

18. Nearest match in time dimension
● Time dimension now supports “nearest match”
● Map will return the closest time to the one selected
● Possibility to set a search “radius”
● The actual time used is returned
in a HTTP response header
2.14
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
EUMETSAT

19. WMS sortBy vendor param
● Sort by recency, cloud cover, and so on
● Supported by vector data and image mosaic
2.12
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
DLR
Mosaic sorted by recencyMosaic sorted by cloud cover

20. Better centroid / label placement in “vector” outputs
KML
● generate placemarks that are
always inside polygon
(for concave polygons)
Vector Tiles
● Pregenerate label points in
tiles
○ Reduce effort on client
2.12
Kevin Smith
Justin Deoliveira
RnD
Label Labelvs

21. Web Feature Service
To the source of vector data!

22. Almost WFS 2.0 certified compliant
● Lot of work went into making GeoServer pass the
WFS 2.0 certification on simple features
● 48 issues fixed
● Almost there, still a couple of minor fixes to do (but
so many other urgent things to work on…)
2.12 - 2.13 - 2.14
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
OGC and GeoSolutions

23. <gs:geometry>
<gml:LineString srsName="urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326"
srsDimension="4"
gml:id="postgres_lines_zm.1.geometry">
<gml:posList>
1 -2 10 0 1 3 15 1 5 3 20 2 5 -2 25 3</gml:posList>
</gml:LineString>
</gs:geometry>
Nuno / GeoSolutions
Jody / Boundless
Encode coordinates measures
- Enable to encode coordinate
measures (“M”) in WFS output
formats that support measures.
- PostGIS is supported today!
WFS Measure Support
Community 2.14

24. App-schema improvements
● Improvements to connection pool usage (only one connection used
per request now)
● Some improvements helping while using MongoDB as a source for
app-schema records
● Hale mapping support being extended to support MongoDB
● Support for SOLR as a data source for MongoDB, as well as
secondary index for full text search engines
2.12 - 2.13 - 2.14
Nuno Oliveira
GeoSolutions
NPRA

25. Web Coverage Service
To the source of raster data, too!

26. CQL_FILTER and SORT_BY on mosaics
● Sort by recency, cloud cover,
and so on
● Filter on the same
● Maps to image mosaic read
parameters
● Uses attributes in the mosaic
index
● Consistent with WMS now,
first see and then download
2.12
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
DLR

27. NetCDF input/output improvements
2.12
Niels (Scitus)
Ben (Transient)
Community
● Can configure NCML files as sources
● Support variable attribute definition in
NetCDF output
● Copy scalars from NetCDF/GRIB source
● Copy scalars from source granules to
make vector in NetCDF output

28. GHRSST Community Module
● WCS output format plugin
● Builds a NetCDF file complaint with the
“Group for High Resolution Sea Surface
Temperature” specification
● It’s the first multi-coverage output, e.g.
○ Sea surface temperature
○ Sea ice fraction
○ Quality level
○ Pixels per bin
○ ...
2.13
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
EUMETSAT

29. Tiles
My alphabet: X,Y and Z

30. ● GeoServer supports “cascading”
remote WMTS services
○ GeoServer acts as a client, rather than
just rerouting each request
○ Same as WMS cascading
WMTS cascading
2.12
Ian Turton - Emanuele Tajariol
GeoSolutions
GeoInfo

31. Parameter filter cache drop fixes/improvements
● GeoWebCache can cache based on request
parameters like style, time, or elevation.
○ Could not truncate (remove cached tiles) across all
parameter values, each must be known and truncated
separately.
○ Now truncates all possible values
● Added operations for
○ Cross parameter truncate
○ Orphan purge
● Enabled cross parameter truncate on data update
GWC
1.12
GS
2.12
Kevin Smith
Boundless
MapStory

32. Manage and configure “blob store” used to hold cached tiles,
and “gridsets” to define tile grids associated with a spatial reference system.
GeoWebCache REST API - new endpoints!
2.13Boundless
Torben Barsballe
Boundless

33. Styling
Your cartographic tailor

34. Labelling improvements
● Kerning on by default
(adjusts spacing between chars, e.g.
Check space between T and r in Trimble)
● Underline and Strikethrough
● Char and word spacing control
● Labelling border of polygon
(instead of the centroid)
2.11
2.12
Andrea Aime
Nuno Oliveria
Community/Geoinfo/
OpenGeoGroep

35. Determining a good location for a label can be tricky.
Use of maxDisplacement indicates how far a label is allowed to move
● Previously we searched in a circular area for a good location
● Now you can supply your preference
using displacementMode
Labelling improvements
2.13
Nikolaos
Pringouris

36. ● Allow using SVG as
shapes for marks
● Filling and stroking
can be controlled
from SLD
SVGs as fillable/strokable marks
2.14
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
Community
<PointSymbolizer>
<Graphic>
<Mark>
<WellKnownName>file://firestation.svg</WellKnownName>
<Fill>
<CssParameter name="fill">#FF0000</CssParameter>
</Fill>
</Mark>
<Size>32</Size>
</Graphic>
</PointSymbolizer>

37. ● JSON representation of styling
○ More limited than SLD/YSLD/CSS
● Works well with vector tiles
○ Cross platform styling (OpenLayers, MapBoxGL)
● Work in progress:
○ Currently a GeoTools community module
○ Should package and go to extension if we get time!
MapBox Style Community Module
2.12
David Vick
Boundless
Boundless Suite
MapBox Style in GeoServer and
OpenLayers

38. ● Usage of units for more
readable scale dependencies
● LessCSS functions to alter
colors
● Convenient syntax to use env
variables, @varName
● Much faster CSS -> SLD
translation
CSS improvements
2.12Andrea AimeCommunity
[class = 'major'][@sd < 25M] {
[@scale > 3M] {
mark: url('./symbols/place/place-6.svg');
mark-mime: 'image/svg+xml';
label-anchor: 0.5 0;
label-offset: 0 2
};
label: [name];
font-size: [interpolate(@sd, 400k, 15, 25M, 12)];
font-color: lighten(red, 10%);
}

39. ● ChannelSelection allows for env
variables now
● Build pseudo-color styles with a
default band layout
● Change the selected bands in
GetMap request
● No need to prepare tens of
different styles
● What if you want to do band math?
You wait just 1 minute!
Dynamic channel selection
2.14
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
DLR
...&env=r:4;g:3,b:2 ...&env=r:8;g:11,b:4
Pseudo color Vegetation analysis

40. Web Processing Service
When the going gets tough the processes get going

41. Unleash map algebra with Jiffle
● Powerful and fast map algebra language
● Can be used as a rendering transformation
● Example, computing NDVI on the fly:
2.14
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
Bayer
nir = src[7];
vir = src[3];
dest = (nir-vir)/(nir+vir);
Sentinel 2 Jiffle script On the fly NDVI index display

42. WPS Download (Community module)
● Download large raw rasters
● Download large raw vector
● Download large static maps with
remote maps inclusion
● Build time based animations
● Allows usage of async calls for
expensive map rendering and
long animation building
2.13GeoSolutionsEUMETSAT

43. CSV input/output for WPS
● Allows the input and output of CSV for use in WPS
processes
● This will lead to GeoTools CSV Datastore being
upgraded to community (and hopefully to supported)
2.12
Ian Turton
Astun
RnD

44. Configuration and management

45. User Interface - Autocompletion
Entering in URLs for data files has been improved with autocomplete
● Entering URLs for data files,
will scan the path suggest
existing files
● Long lists of stores or layers
also feature autocomplete
2.13.0Andrea AimeCommunity

46. User Interface - Raster
Parameters
Filling in raster layer, parameters is
now easier and less error prone
● checkboxes
● dropdowns
2.13.0Andrea AimeCommunity

47. Full-screen style editor
Andrea & TorbenCommunity 2.14

48. External graphic chooser in style editor
Niels-
● Security fixes being added to
supported versions only
● Please upgrade your
GeoServer installations!
2.14

49. Color picker in style editor
Andrea AimeCommunity
You know…. just in case you
don’t remember the hex code
of the color you want!
2.14

50. ● Label export, most shared configurations exported
● Some in the works (word/char spacing, strikethrough, polygon border labelling)
● Some changes needed in GeoServer SE 1.1 parser too
If you prefer point and click: QGIS 3.0 style export
2.12
Andrea Aime
GeoSolutions
OpenGeoGroep

51. Isolated Workspaces
Workspaces are used to partition what is
published for ease of management:
● A workspace has a namespace
(used to keep XML content from conflict)
● Workspace published as a web service
Problem:
● INSPIRE standard requires the use of a
specific namespace
● Cannot use same namespace,
preventing reuse of INSPIRE namespace
Isolated workspace:
● Allows one workspace to publish the
common layers
● The remaining workspace (each one
marked isolated) can reuse these common
layer
Allows the same application schema to be
published from multiple workspaces, each
mapped onto different datasets
2.13.0
Nuno Oliveira
GeoSolutions
SYKE

52. JDBCConfig and JDBCStore (Community)
Use a database, rather than data directory, for clustering:
● GeoServer “Catalog” configuration
● GeoServer support files (styles, icons, fonts, config files)
Work done for 2.13:
● Reduce number of database queries to improve performance
● Consistently log configuration queries for analysis
2.13.0
Niels Charlier
Steve Ikeoka
-

53. Search
Where did I put that satellite image again??

54. OpenSearch for Earth Observations
● Recent addition to OGC protocol for search of earth imagery
● Simpler alternative to CSW with ebRIM
● Two steps search
○ First find collection of similar products (by satellite/sensor)
○ Then search products in it (by other attributes, e.g., cloud cover, off nadir)
● Keeps database of searchable metadata
● Links to OGC services providing said data
● Allows downloading ISO/O&M metadata
2.12GeoSolutionsDLR/EVO-ODAS

55. Help us help you

56. User List Participation
● Answering users questions relies on a low number of people
Action:
● We are sending reminder on effective use of the user list on subscription and
at the bottom of each mail
● Community building activity - remind developers about the definition of
“supported”
(not only reviewing pull requests, also answering user questions, used to be
obvious, but it’s not obvious to devs hired into open source)

57. ● Keep exploit details out of issue report
● Mark the issue as a vulnerability.
● Be prepared to work with Project Steering Committee (PSC) on a solution
● Keep in mind PSC members are volunteers and an extensive fix may require
fundraising / resources
If you are not in position to communicate in public please consider commercial
support, contacting a PSC member, or reaching us via the Open Source Geospatial
Foundation at info@osgeo.org.
In case you stumble into a vulnerability:
Responsible Disclosure

58. ● Bug stomp introduced in 2016
○ Relying on volunteer time not working out
○ allowed developers to reserve time
● Moved to fixed schedule in 2017
○ Arranging day each month too random
● Last Friday of each month
○ Check blog post for tips on participation
You can join and help, too!
Standing “last friday of the month” bug stomp

59. Thanks!