Arches Timeline

The Arches interactive timeline highlights milestones since the inception of the project, reaching back to 2012. Explore highlights from Arches community building efforts, software development, and global deployments of Arches (which mirror a small collection of implementation stories noted on the “Who is Using Arches?” webpage). Navigate through the timeline with filters and scroll down to the LOAD MORE button to expand the sidebar timescale.

2025
First Arches Project Governance in-person meeting
First Arches Project Governance in-person meeting

Representatives from all three Governance committees convene for three days of planning and alignment meetings at the Getty Center in Los Angeles

Arches version 8 released

New features in this release include: resource instance lifecycle states, graph versioning, and significant performance improvements.

In-person Developer Meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland
In-person Developer Meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Hosted by Flax & Teal, the meetings brought 40 developers and technical contributors together to discuss recent and future Arches development and enhance collaboration.

Official launch of Arches Project Governance

Project Steering, Technical Advisory, and Community Advisory committees each hold their inaugural meetings.

Initial version of Arches Governance Charter finalized

The Arches Governance Initiative establishes a new structure to integrate input and decision-making by the Arches community, and produces a governing charter

2024
Version 7.6 LTS released

New features of this long-term support release include: permissions frameworks, support for plugins, and updated data bulk import and concept editing capabilities

Arches for Historic Environment Records (HERs) application becomes available
Arches for Historic Environment Records (HERs) application becomes available

Resulting from a long-term collaboration between the Getty Conservation Institute, Historic England, and the City of Lincoln Council, this application is purpose-built for UK HERs

Public launch of Historic England’s Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLHER) Online implementation
Public launch of Historic England’s Greater London Historic Environment Record (GLHER) Online implementation

GLHER Online, powered by Arches for HERs, goes public to share greater London’s rich heritage and support urban development consultations. Milestone was celebrated with a launch event in London, UK

City of Antwerp Archival and Museums Collections Management Systems go live

First instance of Arches software being used to exclusively manage museum and archival collections data

In-person Developer Meeting at Getty Center in Los Angeles
In-person Developer Meeting at Getty Center in Los Angeles

Organized by Farallon Geographics, this event drew over 30 developers to discuss priorities surrounding the development and contribution process and improve collaboration.

2023
Version 7.5.0 introduces major accessibility improvements for Arches UI

New aspects of this version include: an accessibility mode that implements features that meet AA level accessibility requirements (developed in collaboration with Historic England).

2022
Arches Advisory Planning Group first convenes

This community stakeholder group was convened by the GCI to advise on transitioning to a more community-governed and sustainable open-source project.

Arches Version 7 released
Arches Version 7 released

New features in this version include: internationalization & localization functionality, thanks to the generous support of the Arcadia Fund.

Governance Initiative launched
Governance Initiative launched

The GCI Arches team and external stakeholders meet to discuss planning for sustainability & community-driven governance for the Arches project, identifying key goals and next steps.

2021
Arches Version 6 released

New features in this version include: a IIIF image service manager & improvements to Arches Workflows.

Work begins on a new Arches Reference Data Manager (RDM)
Work begins on a new Arches Reference Data Manager (RDM)

All new, robust, stand-alone Arches RDM is under development. 

Arches/Esri integration
Arches/Esri integration

Release of Esri ArcGIS add-in that allows Esri users to directly access, edit & synchronize Arches data.

2020
First Arches Developer virtual meetup is hosted by Farallon Geographics

Attendees discussed software development & code review for developers who want to be part of the Arches open-source software contribution process.

Last updated: March 2026