GeoWebCache

GeoWebCache is a cache for WMS tiles implemented in Java.

Introduction

Maps are often static. As most mapping clients render WMS (Web Map Service) data every time they are queried, this can result in unnecessary processing and increased wait times. GeoWebCache optimizes this experience by saving (caching) map tiles as they are requested, in effect acting as a proxy between client (such as OpenLayers or Google Maps) and server (such as GeoServer, or any WMS-compliant server). As new maps and tiles are requested, GeoWebCache intercepts these calls and returns pre-rendered tiles if stored, or calls the server to render new tiles as necessary. Thus, once tiles are stored, the speed of map rendering increases many times, making for a more seamless user experience.

  • To use GeoWebCache you need to install Sun's JRE (version 1.5 or 1.6) and a Java Servlet Server such as Apache Tomcat.
  • GeoWebCache is one of the easiest ways to accelerate your WMS mapping server and provide data for clients like Google Maps, Virtual Earth and Google Earth.
  • WMS clients that do not support tiling can be used by recombining cached tiles.
  • GeoWebCache can serve tiles fast enough to saturate a 100 Mbps connection on even modest hardware and gigabit on server class machines.
  • GeoWebCache got its start as JTilecache, a Google Summer of Code project by Chris Whitney, but has since evolved significantly . It is currently developed by OpenGeo, the geospatial division of OpenPlans.

March 3rd, 2010 - Version 1.2.2 released

Read the release notes , DOWNLOAD

Previous versions

Nightly builds of trunk can be found here, or you can build your own.

Want to know what is coming? See the roadmap / menu page

Documentation

You can find the documentation here, additionally there are some old snippets here.

Efforts are underway to translate the documentation to german, these have not yet been converted into reStructured text.

Mailing Lists

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The mailinglists above can also be used through Nabble.

IRC

Server irc.freenode.net
Channel #geoserver

Note: As this is a channel not specifically aimed at GeoWebCache, please mention it explicitly when asking questions.

License

GeoWebCache is open source and released under the GNU General Public License.

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