diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 2e54ffb1b..bc4d5462f 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@ script:
  - export SCONSFLAGS='--debug=time'
  - configure BENCHMARK=${BENCH}
  - cat config.log
- # we limit the `make` to 35 min
+ # we limit the `make` to 40 min
  # to ensure that slow builds still upload their
  # ccache results and therefore should be faster
  # (and might work) for the next build
- - DURATION=2100
+ - DURATION=2400
  - scripts/travis-command-wrapper.py -s "date" -i 120 --deadline=$(( $(date +%s) + ${DURATION} )) make
  - make test
  - enabled ${COVERAGE} coverage
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9b47daba4..a9bd79a81 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -41,6 +41,8 @@ Released: xx-xx-xx
 - GeoJSON - exposed `num_features_to_query` as datasource paramer (ref #3495)
 - Replaced `boost::mpl::vector<Types...>` with `std::tuple<Types...>` (ref #3503)
 - BuildingSymbolizer - fixed closing segment of polygon in building symbolizer (ref #3505)
+- Update dependencies versions
+- Fixed warnings when compiling with g++5
 
 ## 3.0.11
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 69bda5197..ee7047982 100755
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -16,24 +16,7 @@ install:
 	$(PYTHON) scons/scons.py -j$(JOBS) --config=cache --implicit-cache --max-drift=1 install
 
 release:
-	export MAPNIK_VERSION=$(shell ./utils/mapnik-config/mapnik-config --version) && \
-	export TARBALL_NAME="mapnik-v$${MAPNIK_VERSION}" && \
-	cd /tmp/ && \
-	rm -rf $${TARBALL_NAME} && \
-	git clone --depth 1 --branch v$${MAPNIK_VERSION} git@github.com:mapnik/mapnik.git $${TARBALL_NAME} && \
-	cd $${TARBALL_NAME} && \
-	git checkout "tags/v$${MAPNIK_VERSION}" && \
-	git submodule update --depth 100 --init && \
-	rm -rf deps/mapbox/variant/.git && \
-	rm -rf test/data/.git && \
-	rm -rf test/data/.gitignore && \
-	rm -rf test/data-visual/.git && \
-	rm -rf test/data-visual/.gitignore && \
-	rm -rf .git && \
-	rm -rf .gitignore && \
-	cd ../ && \
-	tar cjf $${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2 $${TARBALL_NAME}/ && \
-	aws s3 cp --acl public-read $${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2 s3://mapnik/dist/v$${MAPNIK_VERSION}/
+	./scripts/publish_release.sh
 
 python:
 	if [ ! -d ./bindings/python ]; then git clone git@github.com:mapnik/python-mapnik.git --recursive ./bindings/python; else (cd bindings/python && git pull && git submodule update --init); fi;
@@ -94,10 +77,13 @@ rebuild:
 uninstall:
 	@$(PYTHON) scons/scons.py -j$(JOBS) --config=cache --implicit-cache --max-drift=1 uninstall
 
-test/data:
-	git submodule update --init
+test/data-visual:
+	./scripts/ensure_test_data.sh
 
-test: ./test/data
+test/data:
+	./scripts/ensure_test_data.sh
+
+test: ./test/data test/data-visual
 	@./test/run
 
 check: test
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index d4450d7a4..1511191bd 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 environment:
   msvs_toolset: 14
-  BOOST_VERSION: 61
   FASTBUILD: 1
   matrix:
     - platform: x64
diff --git a/scripts/build-appveyor.bat b/scripts/build-appveyor.bat
index 84088d4cb..d1fc084eb 100644
--- a/scripts/build-appveyor.bat
+++ b/scripts/build-appveyor.bat
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ ECHO msvs_toolset^: %msvs_toolset%
 SET BUILD_TYPE=%configuration%
 SET BUILDPLATFORM=%platform%
 SET TOOLS_VERSION=%msvs_toolset%.0
-SET ICU_VERSION=56.1
 ECHO ICU_VERSION^: %ICU_VERSION%
 IF DEFINED APPVEYOR (ECHO on AppVeyor) ELSE (ECHO NOT on AppVeyor)
 ECHO ========
@@ -63,6 +62,16 @@ ECHO extracting binary deps
 IF EXIST mapnik-sdk (ECHO already extracted) ELSE (7z -y x deps.7z | %windir%\system32\FIND "ing archive")
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
+
+ECHO looking for boost and icu versions in SDK ...
+FOR /F "tokens=1,2 usebackq" %%i in (`powershell %APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%\scripts\get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1`) DO SET %%i=%%j
+IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
+
+ECHO BOOST_VERSION found in SDK^: %BOOST_VERSION%
+ECHO ICU_VERSION found in SDK^: %ICU_VERSION%
+ECHO ICU_VERSION2 found in SDK^: %ICU_VERSION2%
+
+
 CALL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
diff --git a/scripts/build-local.bat b/scripts/build-local.bat
index 306e10c86..5a27b9bf8 100644
--- a/scripts/build-local.bat
+++ b/scripts/build-local.bat
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ SET APPVEYOR=true
 SET LOCAL_BUILD_DONT_SKIP_TESTS=true
 SET FASTBUILD=1
 
-FOR /F "tokens=1 usebackq" %%i in (`powershell .\scripts\parse-appveyor-yml.ps1`) DO SET BOOST_VERSION=%%i
-ECHO BOOST_VERSION found in appveyor.yml^: %BOOST_VERSION%
-IF "%BOOST_VERSION%"=="0" ECHO BOOST_VERSION not valid && SET ERRORLEVEL=1 && GOTO ERROR
-
-
 :: OVERRIDE PARAMETERS >>>>>>>>
 :NEXT-ARG
 
diff --git a/scripts/ensure_test_data.sh b/scripts/ensure_test_data.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..e124f3daa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ensure_test_data.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -eu
+set -o pipefail
+
+VERSION=$(git describe)
+
+if [[ -d .git ]]; then
+    git submodule update --init
+else
+    if [[ ! -d ./test/data ]]; then
+        echo "Downloading unit test data from https://github.com/mapnik/test-data/archive/${VERSION}.tar.gz"
+        mkdir -p test/data/
+        curl -L -s https://github.com/mapnik/test-data/archive/${VERSION}.tar.gz | tar zxf - --strip-components=1 -C test/data/
+    fi
+    if [[ ! -d ./test/data-visual ]]; then
+        echo "Downloading visual test data from https://github.com/mapnik/test-data-visual/archive/${VERSION}.tar.gz"
+        mkdir -p test/data-visual/
+        curl -L -s https://github.com/mapnik/test-data-visual/archive/${VERSION}.tar.gz | tar zxf - --strip-components=1 -C test/data-visual/
+    fi
+fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1 b/scripts/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a24c3196c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+$boost_version='0'
+$icu_version='0'
+$libdir=$PSScriptRoot+"\..\mapnik-gyp\mapnik-sdk\lib"
+
+#get boost and icu versions directly from the files in the SDK
+
+#boost_python-vc140-mt-1_61.dll
+$boost_version=(Get-ChildItem $libdir -Filter *boost*.dll)[0].BaseName.split("_")[-1]
+
+#icuin56.dll
+$icu_version=(Get-ChildItem $libdir -Filter icuin*.dll)[0].BaseName.split("icuin")[-1]
+
+Write-Host "BOOST_VERSION" $boost_version
+Write-Host "ICU_VERSION" $icu_version".1"
+Write-Host "ICU_VERSION2" $icu_version"_1"
+
+trap {
+    "Error: $_"
+    exit 1
+}
diff --git a/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1 b/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1
deleted file mode 100644
index f87ae7e3a..000000000
--- a/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
-$boost_version='0'
-Get-Content .\appveyor.yml |
-    foreach { 
-        if ($_ -match "BOOST_VERSION: "){ $boost_version = $_.split()[-1] }
-    }
-Write-Host $boost_version
diff --git a/scripts/publish_release.sh b/scripts/publish_release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..fb79e0c41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/publish_release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -eu
+set -o pipefail
+
+# for normal release leave empty
+# for release candidate, add "-rcN"
+export MAPNIK_VERSION=$(git describe)
+if [[ $(git tag -l) =~ $MAPNIK_VERSION ]]; then echo yes;
+    echo "Success: found $MAPNIK_VERSION (result of git describe) in tags, continuing"
+else
+    echo "error: $MAPNIK_VERSION (result of git describe) not in "git tag -l" output, aborting"
+    echo "You must create a valid annotated tag first, before running this ./scripts/publish_release.sh"
+    exit 1
+fi
+export TARBALL_NAME="mapnik-${MAPNIK_VERSION}"
+cd /tmp/
+rm -rf ${TARBALL_NAME}
+echo "Cloning ${MAPNIK_VERSION}"
+git clone --depth 1 --branch ${MAPNIK_VERSION} git@github.com:mapnik/mapnik.git ${TARBALL_NAME}
+cd ${TARBALL_NAME}
+git checkout "tags/${MAPNIK_VERSION}"
+echo "updating submodules"
+# TODO: skip initializing submodule if data is already tagged
+# Will require bundling variant as well
+git submodule update --depth 100 --init
+rm -rf deps/mapbox/variant/.git
+cd test/data/
+git remote set-url origin git@github.com:mapnik/test-data
+echo "tagging test data"
+git tag ${MAPNIK_VERSION} -a -m "tagging for ${MAPNIK_VERSION}"
+git push --tags
+cd ../../
+echo "removing test data submodule"
+rm -rf test/data/
+cd test/data-visual/
+git remote set-url origin git@github.com:mapnik/test-data-visual
+echo "tagging visual data"
+git tag ${MAPNIK_VERSION} -a -m "tagging for ${MAPNIK_VERSION}"
+git push --tags
+cd ../../
+echo "removing visual test data submodule"
+rm -rf test/data-visual/
+rm -rf .git
+rm -rf .gitignore
+cd ../
+echo "creating tarball of ${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2"
+tar cjf ${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2 ${TARBALL_NAME}/
+echo "uploading $(dirname ${TARBALL_NAME})/${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2 to s3://mapnik/dist/${MAPNIK_VERSION}/"
+# TODO: upload to github releases instead of s3
+aws s3 cp --acl public-read ${TARBALL_NAME}.tar.bz2 s3://mapnik/dist/${MAPNIK_VERSION}/
diff --git a/scripts/time-header b/scripts/time-header
index 97c3c6977..7561e5e81 100755
--- a/scripts/time-header
+++ b/scripts/time-header
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ set -o pipefail
 CXXFLAGS="$(./utils/mapnik-config/mapnik-config --cflags)"
 CXX="$(./utils/mapnik-config/mapnik-config --cxx)"
 echo "Time taken to compile '$(basename $1)':"
-time ${CXX} $1 -I./test -I./deps/agg/include -Ideps -I./include $CXXFLAGS -o /tmp/header.out
\ No newline at end of file
+time ${CXX} $1 -I./test -I./deps/agg/include -Ideps -I./deps/mapbox/variant/include -I./include $CXXFLAGS -o /tmp/header.out
\ No newline at end of file