GeoWebCache 1.0 released

OpenGeo has released GeoWebCache 1.0, is a tile cache for WMS servers designed to significantly improve the performance of your service and provide easy integration with software such as OpenLayers, Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth and Google Earth. The response time for cached tiles is measured in milliseconds, making it possible to serve hundreds of simultaneous clients using modest hardware.

GeoWebCache can run on any platform supported by Sun Java 1.5 or newer and requires only a Java Servlet container, such as Apache Tomcat, to run. The programme will work with any WMS 1.1.0 compliant server, including GeoServer, MapServer and degree. It can automatically configure itself from a WMS !GetCapabilities document, detailed configuration can be achieved through XML files. A simple web interface is available to preview the layers. A built-in multi-threaded seeder makes it easy to populate, truncate and update the cache. !GeoWebCache forwards requests that are not !GetMap to the backend, making these queries work seamlessly. The system is built using the Spring Framework, which makes it easy to extended with new services, backends and storage mechanisms. A RESTful API makes it possible to configure layers and initiate seed requests using JSON or XML. !GeoWebCache is free software, licensed under the LGPLv3.