Major Advances for Leading Enterprise Geospatial Software Stack

New York, NY November 05 — Boundless, formerly OpenGeo, has released version 4.0 of OpenGeo Suite. This release brings new features and improvements, including component upgrades to PostGIS 2.1, GeoServer 2.4, GeoWebCache 1.5 and support for OpenLayers 3 and QGIS. These enhancements expand the capabilities of OpenGeo Suite, enabling enterprises to replace legacy software with a web-based open source geospatial stack.

When reached for comment about the release Juan Marin, CTO of Boundless, said “OpenGeo Suite 4.0 represents a significant step forward for our production-ready geospatial software stack. We’ve made a number of upgrades and enhancements, making it easier for customers to develop applications and set up their production systems. We’re also supporting new technologies such as OpenLayers 3.0 and QGIS. OpenLayers 3 in particular promises many improvements over the previous version and I’m proud that Boundless helped fund and develop it.”

Boundless offers OpenGeo Suite installation packages for all major operating systems. The 4.0 release includes completely reworked packages for each system, making it easier to evaluate the software, develop applications and most importantly deploy in production. Packages for Linux, Mac OS X, and application servers will be available immediately, with a Windows-specific release coming soon.

Additional developments include a GeoServer clustering extension which allows high availability and better scaling under load. With the extension OpenGeo Suite users can configure GeoServer in a database as opposed to a file system, as well as automatically synchronize multiple instances. The extension supports the configuration of GeoServer clusters in production.

OpenGeo Suite 4.0 also includes open source component upgrades and developments. Boundless has committed support for OpenLayers 3 and also has developed a QGIS plugin for OpenGeo Suite, allowing customers to utilize the latest open source developments. The OpenLayers library has been one of the most fully featured options for web mapping, and the new version, a complete rewrite, comes with many new features, leveraging modern web standards like HTML5, CSS3 and WebGL.

In July of Boundless announced support for QGIS and the QGIS community. To enhance the integration between QGIS and OpenGeo Suite this release includes a QGIS plugin, which allows for seamless management and publishing of geographic information from QGIS to OpenGeo Suite. Users familiar with desktop applications now have an easy and powerful way of configuring OpenGeo Suite components. By integrating QGIS with OpenGeo Suite Boundless offers a complete solution for creating, analyzing, publishing, and consuming geospatial data and services without the need for proprietary software.

When reached for comment on the QGIS developments, Marin said, “The QGIS plugin adds important points of integration for desktop application users, who can now easily configure OpenGeo Suite components from QGIS. This furthers our efforts to offer our customers a comprehensive spatial data platform and enables organizations interested in replacing proprietary tools with a full featured end-to-end alternative.”

A summary of other upgrades in the 4.0 release include:

• Improved interoperability with Google. The KML module in GeoServer has been rewritten and the KML point symbolizer has been enhanced to allow features KML by itself normally wouldn’t, like stacked symbols.
• Improved support for 3D and LIDAR point clouds. Improved support for multidimensional data. PostGIS now natively stores LIDAR data, GeoServer and GeoWebCache can better configure and filter across multiple dimensions, including time and elevation.
• Catalog support with CSW. A GeoServer extension to support Catalog Service for Web (CSW) version 2.0.2, providing support for Dublin Core and the ISO Metadata Application Profile.
• Mapmeter The necessary plugins to run Mapmeter, a management and analytics tool for monitoring the health and usage of production geospatial services, come pre-packaged in OpenGeo Suite 4.0. The service comes included for OpenGeo Suite customers at the Platform and Strategic levels, but is also available for purchase separately.

About Boundless

From database to server to client, Boundless is the company organizations turn to for a lower cost, more flexible and modern alternative to the industry’s prevailing proprietary and closed source model. Our community-led, spatial IT based approach to building and maintaining software helps organizations manage geospatial data. Our software and maintenance agreements, which include support and professional services, provide a lower cost, more flexible and modern alternative.

We’ve built a team of experts from the open source geospatial community — as well those within the greater field who recognize the power and momentum the open source business model has on the future of their industry. Our roots are in the open source community and our team members are actively involved core contributors and steering committee members across many open source geospatial projects. The foundation of our company is based on the knowledge that openness leads to better collaboration, better software and greater innovation.