GeoTools FAQ

Q: What is GeoTools ?

GeoTools is a free, open source Java geospatial toolkit for working with both vector and raster data. It is made up of a large number of modules that allow you to:

  • access GIS data in many file formats and spatial databases

  • work with an extensive range of map projections

  • filter and analyze data in terms of spatial and non-spatial attributes

  • compose and display maps with complex styling

  • create and analyze graphs and networks

GeoTools implements specifications of the Open Geospatial Consortium including:

  • Simple Features

  • GridCoverage

  • Styled Layer Descriptor

  • Filter Encoding

GeoTools can be readily extended by adding new modules, either for custom applications or as contributions to the library.

Q: How do I search the archives of the GeoTools mailing lists?

Go to this page.

Q: What are the features of the GeoTools Library?

That is a hard question to answer as GeoTools is a general purpose geospatial library.

Here is a sample of some of the great features in the library today:

  • Supports OGC Grid Coverage implementation

  • Coordinate reference system and transformation support

  • Symbology using OGC Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) specification

  • Attribute and spatial filters using OGC Filter Encoding specification

  • Supports graphs and networks

  • Java Topology Suite (JTS) - with support for the OGC Simple Features Specification - used as the geometry model for vector features.

  • A stateless, low memory renderer, particularly useful in server-side environments

  • Powerful “schema assisted” parsing technology using XML Schema to bind to GML content

  • Interact with OGC web services with both Web Map Server and Web Feature Server support

  • Open plug-in system allowing you to teach the library additional formats

  • Plug-ins for the ImageIO-EXT project allowing GeoTools to read additional raster formats from GDAL

Q: Okay what data formats does GeoTools support?

GeoTools supports additional formats through the use of plug-ins. You can control the formats supported by your application by only including the plug-ins you require.

  • arcgrid

  • db2

  • raster formats

    • geotiff

    • grassraster

    • image - world plus image files using common image formats such as JPEG, TIFF, GIF and PNG

    • imageio-ext-gdal (allows access to additional GDAL formats thanks to the ImageIO project)

    • imagemoasaic

    • imagepyramid

    • JP2K

  • Database gt-jdbc-ng `` support

    • db2

    • geopackage

    • hana

    • h2

    • mysql

    • oracle

    • postgis

    • sqlserver

    • teradata

  • property - simple text file format often used for testing

  • shapefile

Perhaps one of the unsupported modules or plugins may have what you need. These modules are supplied by the community and do not yet meet the quality expected by the library:

There are also some “unsupported” formats that are either popular or under development:

  • dfx

  • geojson

  • wfs

The current authoritative list of plugins is of course the source code:

GeoTools versions

Q. How are GeoTools versions organized?

Like many open source projects, GeoTools has a development version and one or more stable versions active at any given time. By active, we mean that the project developers are working on new features, improvements and bug fixes.

The development version is the main branch in the GitHub repository (https://github.com/geotools/geotools). This is the ‘bleeding edge’ code where the latest features are being worked on. Eventually this code will become the next stable branch.

Stable versions are a branch in the GitHub repository. As an example, the 14.x stable branch can be found at https://github.com/geotools/geotools/tree/14.x. Stable versions do not get new features, but do get bug fixes and sometimes other minor improvements.

Formal releases are a tag in the GitHub repository. For example, GeoTools 14.0 can be found at https://github.com/geotools/geotools/releases/tag/14.0. Similarly, the 13.1 release can be found at https://github.com/geotools/geotools/releases/tag/13.1.

Commencing with GeoTools version 8, a major.minor.patch numbering system applies.

major

An increment of the major identifier (e.g. from version 8.x.y to 9.0.0) indicates substantial changes that can break binary compatibility with previous versions.

minor

An increment in the minor identifier (e.g. from version 8.0.y to 8.1.y) indicates new features and/or improvements that do not break binary compatibility with the previous version.

patch

An increment in the patch identifier (e.g. from version 8.0.0 to 8.0.1) indicates fixes and minor tweaks since the previous version.

Q. What is a SNAPSHOT version and how do I use it?

A snapshot is the GeoTools code that the developers are actively working on.

Usually there will be three active snapshots:

  • one associated with the stable branch (e.g GeoTools 23-SNAPSHOT);

  • a second associated with the maintenance branch (e.g. 22-SNAPSHOT);

  • and a third for main branch (e.g. 24-SNAPSHOT).

At times there will also be snapshot releases for an earlier branch that is having a bug fixe applied (e.g. GeoTools 19-SNAPSHOT).

New snapshot jars are built nightly and deployed to a repository separate from the one used for formal releases. If you are using Maven as your build tool you can work with a snapshot release by adding the following to your pom.xml :

<repository>
    <id>osgeo-snapshot</id>
    <name>OSGeo Snapshot Repository</name>
    <url>https://repo.osgeo.org/repository/snapshot/</url>
    <snapshots><enabled>true</enabled></snapshots>
    <releases><enabled>false</enabled></releases>
</repository>

You can now build your project against a snapshot release by setting it as the your version property as shown here:

<properties>
    <geotools.version>24-SNAPSHOT</geotools.version>
</properties>

This is a great approach when to use when actively testing a fix in your application.

Common License Questions

Q: What license does GeoTools use?

All GeoTools modules are released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). GeoTools can be used for commercial applications, any changes made to GeoTools need to be made available to your customers.

An easy way to do this is to contribute the changes back to the GeoTools project (but this is not required).

Q: Can I use GeoTools in my Commercial Project?

Yes. This is one of the reasons we chose the LGPL license. You can build a Commercial application which uses GeoTools as a library and re-distribute your application under any license you choose. Your users will get a license to your application under the terms of your license and a license to the GeoTools library under the terms of the LGPL. You only need to give your users some way to get the source code of the GeoTools library, most easily by pointing your users to the servers of the GeoTools project.

However, if you choose to modify the GeoTools library itself, then you have to publish the source code to those changes to the users of your application.

The easiest way to do that will be to submit those changes back to the GeoTools project so the changes can be incorporated into the core source code.

Q: Can I use GeoTools in my GPL Project?

Yes. This is one of the reasons we chose the LGPL license. You can build a free software application which uses GeoTools as a library and re-distribute your application under the GPL license. Your users will get a license to your application under the terms of the GPL and a license to the GeoTools library under the terms of the LGPL. You only need to give your users some way to get the source code of the GeoTools library, either by pointing your users to the servers of the GeoTools project or by giving them the GeoTools code in the same way you give them the code to your GPL application.

However, if you choose to modify the GeoTools library itself, then you have to publish the source code to those changes to your users.

The easiest way to do that will be to submit those changes back to the GeoTools project so the changes can be incorporated into the core source code.

Note

You can also incorporate GeoTools code directly into your GPL application. Legally, the latter amounts to re-licensing GeoTools under the GPL, which is specifically allowed by the LGPL. This re-licensing is one-way, and requires specific actions - see the LGPL.

Q: What restrictions are there on my use of GeoTools?

None. You can read, run, copy, or do anything else you want to do with the GeoTools code. This is one of the four core freedoms of free software which we grant you under the LGPL: the freedom to use the software for any purpose you choose.

The only restrictions of the LGPL come when you are re-distributing GeoTools, that is when you are passing it on to someone else either on its own or as part of a larger product, such as when you share it or sell it.

Q: What restrictions are there on my re-distribution of GeoTools?

Technically, you have to provide everyone who receives a copy of GeoTools from you with some way to get the source code to the library. In practice, pointing those users to the GeoTools project itself is considered an adequate solution.

However, if you are re-distributing a modified version of GeoTools then you need to provide users with access to the modified code. This means that you must give your users some way to get the modified code such as by publishing it yourself. An alternative way to provide your users with the modifications would be to work with us to get your changes integrated into the GeoTools library– -you could then use the new library directly. The best way to do this would be to open a change request on our issue tracker and add to that request a code patch containing your changes.

Q: What should I do if I am still unsure what I am allowed to do?

You can clarify any questions you have by sending us questions to the user mailing list:

Q: Why can’t I find module X in the GeoTools distribution or javadocs?

If you’re working with a recent GeoTools release then chances are the module that you’re looking for is an unsupported module. These modules not part of the standard GeoTools distribution but are available from the GIT repository in the modules/unsupported folder. If you are using Maven as your build tool you can include a dependency for an unsupported module as you would any other GeoTools module.

Q: What is an unsupported module?

Unsupported modules are those found in the modules/unsupported folder of each GeoTools version in the GIT repository. They are not part of the standard GeoTools distribution but are still available for use via Subversion, Maven and manual download.

A module can be unsupported for one or more of the following reasons:

  • It is under development and has not yet met all of the criteria for usability, test coverage, documentation etc to be included in the general GeoTools distribution.

  • It lacks a module maintainer.

  • It has been superseded by another module and dropped from the general distribution, but still has enough useful bits or active users to make it worth keeping (at least for a while).

Unsupported modules are a mixed bag: some are reliable and regularly used while others are in various states of development or decay. The best way to find out the status of any particular module is to look in the user list archives and then, if you want to check further, post a question to the list.