Setting up a local environment¶
OGC API modules are still developing. Various core specifications are now finalized, along with a few extra parts, but a number of API and parts are still in draft form and their behavior is likely to change in the next months/year. As a result, some OGC API modules are GeoServer extensions, while others are community modules.
This section explains how to get a GeoServer with OGC APIs ready for the workshop.
Using an online demo server¶
If you don’t feel like installing this on your machine, a demo server is available from GeoSolutions that ships with the OGC APIs, but mind, it may not be online at all times.
Docker setup¶
The quickest approach to start a GeoServer with OGC APIs is to run it as a docker image:
docker pull docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.27.x
docker run --name gs-ogcapi -it -p8083:8080 --env INSTALL_EXTENSIONS=true \
--env STABLE_EXTENSIONS="ogcapi-features,wps,vectortiles" \
--env COMMUNITY_EXTENSIONS="ogcapi-coverages,ogcapi-maps,ogcapi-styles,ogcapi-tiles,ogcapi-processes" \
docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.27.x
Manual installation¶
- Make sure you have a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed on your system. GeoServer requires a Java 11 environment (or optionally, a Java 17 or Java 21 one), as provided by the Adoptium open source project.
- Download the geoserver-2.27.x-latest-bin.zip. Unzip it in a directory of your choice.
- Download the geoserver-2.27-SNAPSHOT-ogcapi-features-plugin.zip.
- Download all the necessary geoserver-<version>-SNAPSHOT-ogcapi-<service>-plugin.zip.
- Unzip all their content in the
webapps/geoserver/WEB-INF/lib
folder of your GeoServer directory. - In the GeoServer bin directory, locate the
start.ini
file, open it, and change the propertyjetty.http.port
to8083
, so as not to conflict with other applications that might be running on 8080. The rest of this training assumes GeoServer is running on port8083
.
Setting environment variables¶
You will need to set the JAVA_HOME
environment variable if it is not already set.
This is the path to your JRE such that %JAVA_HOME%\bin\java.exe
exists.
To set the JAVA_HOME
in Linux/OSX
run the following commands:
export JAVA_HOME=/path/to/jre
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
To set the JAVA_HOME
in Windows
:
- Navigate to .
- Under System variables click New.
- For Variable name enter
JAVA_HOME
. For Variable value enter the path to your JDK/JRE. - Click OK three times.
Running¶
To start GeoServer:
- On
Linux/OSX
open the terminal, navigate to the root directory of you GeoServer installation and runbin/startup.sh
. - On
Windows
runstartup.bat
inside thebin
folder. A command-line window will appear and persist. This window contains diagnostic and troubleshooting information. This window must be left open, otherwise GeoServer will shut down.
Once GeoServer is running:
- Navigate to
http://localhost:8083/geoserver
to access the GeoServer home. - Check that ogcapi modules are installed by looking on the left side of the GeoServer home page. Under the section Service Capabilities you should have the following links:

Stopping¶
To shut down GeoServer:
- On
Linux/OSX
pressCTRL-C
on the terminal where GeoServer is running. - On
Windows
either close the persistent command-line window, or run theshutdown.bat
file inside thebin
directory.
Uninstallation¶
When you are done exploring OGC APIs, if you wish to, it’s possible to remove the GeoServer as follows:
- Stop GeoServer (if it is running).
- Delete the directory where GeoServer is installed.