The 1.7.0 release brings many new features, including a number of new raster and vector drivers as well as many improvements to existing drivers, and limited extentions to the GDAL API.

• New Raster Drivers: BAG, EPSILON, Northwood/VerticalMapper, R, Rasterlite, SAGA GIS Binary, SRP (USRP/ASRP), EarthWatch .TIL, WKT Raster
• GDAL PCIDSK driver using the new PCIDSK SDK by default
• New Vector drivers: DXF, GeoRSS, GTM, PCIDSK and VFK
• New utilities: gdaldem, gdalbuildvrt now compiled by default
• Add support for Python 3.X. Compatibility with Python 2.X preserved
• Remove old-generation Python bindings.
• Significantly improved raster drivers: GeoRaster, GeoTIFF, HFA, JPEG2000 JasPer, JPEG2000 Kakadu, NITF
• Significantly improved vector drivers: CSV, KML, SQLite/SpataiLite, VRT