Optimizing line width

This functionality requires version 1.7.3 or newer.

Two ways to render thin lines

There are two ways that GeoServer renders thin lines in WMS output.

(default) Optimized line width rendering. This method equalizes all stroke widths less than or equal to 1.5 pixels to result in the same output.
Standard rendering, where all line widths remain unchanged.

The default is due to a legacy optimization for non-antialiased drawing, and will eventually be removed. However, if you would like to disable this optimization, you can do so now.

Changing this setting may drastically alter the look of your maps!

Optimized line width rendering (default)

Standard rendering

Turning off optimized line width

There are three ways to turn off optimized line width:

Editing web.xml
Command line parameter
Environment variable

Editing web.xml

Add the following code:

<context-param>
    <param-name>OPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
</context-param>

Command line parameter

Add the following text to the startup command:

 
-DOPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH=false

Environment variable

Set the environment variable OPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH=false. On a command line:

OS X / UNIX systems:

export OPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH=false

Windows:

set OPTIMIZE_LINE_WIDTH=false