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.
• GeoWebCache can serve tiles fast enough to saturate a 100 Mbps connection on even modest hardware.
• GeoWebCache is based on JTilecache, a Google Summer of Code project by Chris Whitney. It is currently developed by OpenGeo, the geospatial division of The Open Planning Project.

June 19th, 2009 - Version 1.1.3 released!

Download from SourceForge - Release Notes

Previous versions

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

Documentation

You can find instructions on how check out and build GeoWebCache from source here

The remaining documentation has been moved to this page

Mailing Lists

Users	Archives	Subscribe
Developers	Archives	Subscribe

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.

Who is using GeoWebCache?

A non-exhaustive list of people who are using GeoWebCache. Please email ak@opengeo.org with a few words if you'd like to be featured on this list. There is also a page with organizations that build on top of GeoWebCache

Based on our web access logs we think that the dots on the map below represent the approximate locations of users who in the past 60 days have deployed or are testing GeoWebCache.