The last two years have seen a period of unprecedented change for the GeoServer project with an intensive period of updates and developments. Following a successful fund raising campaign GeoServer 3 marks the completion of a long-planned modernization effort aimed at keeping the project aligned with the current Java ecosystem, while preserving the stability and backwards compatibility that users rely on. Now that GeoServer 3 has been available for a few months, this talk provides a final update on the work and its outcomes.

We’ll review the initial drivers behind the transition, starting from the upgrade of core dependencies, how
that cascaded to more updates, resulting in a coordinated effort across multiple projects. From there, we’ll outline the main phases of the work: how the upgrade was organized, funded, managed new needs, and ultimately delivered.

GeoServer 3 introduces a modernized foundation while maintaining the familiar concepts and workflows that users rely on. This session offers a guided tour of the new release, focusing on what has changed in practice and how to approach the transition from GeoServer 2.x.

We’ll walk through the upgrade process, highlighting prerequisites such as updated Java and servlet container requirements, and what to expect when migrating existing installations. The session will also showcase the refreshed user interface, discussing its evolution and the improvements it brings in terms of usability and productivity.

In addition, we’ll explore the updated module structure, what is included in the core distribution, and how extensions are organized in GeoServer 3.