diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f5184d398..0fbe015b0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -175,8 +175,10 @@ elseif(${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} STREQUAL "Intel")
 elseif(${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} STREQUAL "MSVC")
   # using Visual Studio C++
   set(BOOST_COMPONENTS ${BOOST_COMPONENTS} date_time chrono zlib)
+  add_definitions(-DBOOST_LIB_DIAGNOSTIC)
   add_definitions(-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS)
   add_definitions(-DNOMINMAX) # avoid min and max macros that can break compilation
+  add_definitions(-D_USE_MATH_DEFINES) #needed for M_PI with cmath.h
   add_definitions(-D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0501)
   add_definitions(-DXML_STATIC)
   find_library(ws2_32_LIBRARY_PATH ws2_32)
@@ -234,7 +236,10 @@ include_directories(SYSTEM ${OSMIUM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 
 find_package(Boost 1.49.0 COMPONENTS ${BOOST_COMPONENTS} REQUIRED)
-add_definitions(-DBOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK -DBOOST_SPIRIT_USE_PHOENIX_V3 -DBOOST_RESULT_OF_USE_DECLTYPE)
+if(NOT WIN32)
+  add_definitions(-DBOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK)
+endif()
+add_definitions(-DBOOST_SPIRIT_USE_PHOENIX_V3 -DBOOST_RESULT_OF_USE_DECLTYPE)
 include_directories(SYSTEM ${Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS})
 
 find_package(Threads REQUIRED)
diff --git a/appveyor-build.bat b/appveyor-build.bat
index f055c171e..568998b5f 100644
--- a/appveyor-build.bat
+++ b/appveyor-build.bat
@@ -8,16 +8,39 @@ SET PROJECT_DIR=%CD%
 ECHO PROJECT_DIR^: %PROJECT_DIR%
 ECHO NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS^: %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%
 ECHO cmake^: && cmake --version
+IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 ECHO CMAKE not found GOTO ERROR
+
+FOR /F %%G IN ("--version") DO cmake %%G 2>&1 | findstr /C:"3.5.0" > nul && goto CMAKE_NOT_OK
+GOTO CMAKE_OK
+
+:CMAKE_NOT_OK
+ECHO CMAKE NOT OK - downloading new CMake
+IF NOT EXIST cm.zip powershell Invoke-WebRequest https://cmake.org/files/v3.5/cmake-3.5.1-win32-x86.zip -OutFile $env:PROJECT_DIR\cm.zip
+IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
+IF NOT EXIST cmake-3.5.1-win32-x86 7z -y x cm.zip | %windir%\system32\FIND "ing archive"
+IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
+SET PATH=%PROJECT_DIR%\cmake-3.5.1-win32-x86\bin;%PATH%
+
+:CMAKE_OK
+ECHO CMAKE_OK
+cmake --version
 
 ECHO activating VS command prompt ...
 SET PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin;%PATH%
 CALL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" amd64
 
 ECHO platform^: %platform%
+
+ECHO cl.exe version
+cl
+ECHO msbuild version
+msbuild /version
+
 :: HARDCODE "x64" as it is uppercase on AppVeyor and download from S3 is case sensitive
 SET DEPSPKG=osrm-deps-win-x64-14.0.7z
 
 :: local development
+ECHO.
 ECHO LOCAL_DEV^: %LOCAL_DEV%
 IF NOT DEFINED LOCAL_DEV SET LOCAL_DEV=0
 IF DEFINED LOCAL_DEV IF %LOCAL_DEV% EQU 1 IF EXIST %DEPSPKG% ECHO skipping deps download && GOTO SKIPDL
@@ -33,27 +56,39 @@ IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
 IF EXIST osrm-deps ECHO deleting osrm-deps... && RD /S /Q osrm-deps
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
-IF EXIST build ECHO deletings build dir... && RD /S /Q build
+IF EXIST build ECHO deleting build dir... && RD /S /Q build
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
 7z -y x %DEPSPKG% | %windir%\system32\FIND "ing archive"
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
+::tree osrm-deps
+
 MKDIR build
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 cd build
 IF %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 GOTO ERROR
 
-SET OSRMDEPSDIR=%PROJECT_DIR%\osrm-deps
+SET OSRMDEPSDIR=%PROJECT_DIR%/osrm-deps
 set PREFIX=%OSRMDEPSDIR%/libs
 set BOOST_ROOT=%OSRMDEPSDIR%/boost
+set BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=%BOOST_ROOT%/lib
 set TBB_INSTALL_DIR=%OSRMDEPSDIR%/tbb
 set TBB_ARCH_PLATFORM=intel64/vc14
 
+ECHO OSRMDEPSDIR       ^: %OSRMDEPSDIR%
+ECHO PREFIX            ^: %PREFIX%
+ECHO BOOST_ROOT        ^: %BOOST_ROOT%
+ECHO BOOST_LIBRARYDIR  ^: %BOOST_LIBRARYDIR%
+ECHO TBB_INSTALL_DIR   ^: %TBB_INSTALL_DIR%
+ECHO TBB_ARCH_PLATFORM ^: %TBB_ARCH_PLATFORM%
+
+
 ECHO calling cmake ....
 cmake .. ^
 -G "Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64" ^
 -DBOOST_ROOT=%BOOST_ROOT% ^
+-DBOOST_LIBRARYDIR=%BOOST_LIBRARYDIR% ^
 -DBoost_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS=1.58 ^
 -DBoost_USE_MULTITHREADED=ON ^
 -DBoost_USE_STATIC_LIBS=ON ^
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index f1c98286a..98dab12ca 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ build_script:
 test: off
 
 artifacts:
+  - path: build\build_errors.txt
+    name: build_errors.txt
+  - path: build\build_warnings.txt
+    name: build_warnings.txt
   - path: osrm_Release.zip
     name: osrm_Release.zip
 #  - path: osrm_Debug.zip
@@ -41,9 +45,3 @@ deploy:
   folder: /
   enable_ssl: true
   active_mode: false
-
-# notifications:
-#   - provider: HipChat
-#     auth_token:
-#       secure: boLE7BjcahdIUxv9jkN7U3F8iOASF+MkhtctlVoWJoo=
-#     room: Directions
diff --git a/build-local.bat b/build-local.bat
index b26c41522..a90c0aa74 100644
--- a/build-local.bat
+++ b/build-local.bat
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ SET CONFIGURATION=Release
 FOR /F "tokens=*" %%i in ('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD') do SET APPVEYOR_REPO_BRANCH=%%i
 ECHO APPVEYOR_REPO_BRANCH^: %APPVEYOR_REPO_BRANCH%
 
-SET PATH=C:\mb\windows-builds-64\tmp-bin\cmake-3.4.0-win32-x86\bin;%PATH%
+::SET PATH=C:\mb\windows-builds-64\tmp-bin\cmake-3.5.0-win32-x86\bin;%PATH%
+SET PATH=C:\mb\windows-builds-64\tmp-bin\cmake-3.5.1-win32-x86\bin;%PATH%
 SET PATH=C:\Program Files\7-Zip;%PATH%
 
 powershell Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force
diff --git a/include/extractor/raster_source.hpp b/include/extractor/raster_source.hpp
index 499e9a262..c5d276f87 100644
--- a/include/extractor/raster_source.hpp
+++ b/include/extractor/raster_source.hpp
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ class RasterGrid
         ydim = _ydim;
         _data.reserve(ydim * xdim);
 
-        boost::filesystem::ifstream stream(filepath);
+        boost::filesystem::ifstream stream(filepath, std::ios::binary);
         if (!stream)
         {
             throw util::exception("Unable to open raster file.");
diff --git a/include/util/trigonometry_table.hpp b/include/util/trigonometry_table.hpp
index e66a52509..fe1d316ba 100644
--- a/include/util/trigonometry_table.hpp
+++ b/include/util/trigonometry_table.hpp
@@ -358,7 +358,12 @@ constexpr unsigned short atan_table[4096] = {
     0xffe0, 0xffea, 0xfff4, 0xffff};
 
 // max value is pi/4
+#ifdef _MSC_VER //TODO: remove as soon as boost allows C++14 features with Visual Studio
+const constexpr double SCALING_FACTOR = 4. / M_PI * 0xFFFF;
+#else
 const constexpr double SCALING_FACTOR = 4. / boost::math::constants::pi<double>() * 0xFFFF;
+#endif
+
 
 inline double atan2_lookup(double y, double x)
 {
diff --git a/src/extractor/edge_based_graph_factory.cpp b/src/extractor/edge_based_graph_factory.cpp
index 911999347..77ea0757f 100644
--- a/src/extractor/edge_based_graph_factory.cpp
+++ b/src/extractor/edge_based_graph_factory.cpp
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ void EdgeBasedGraphFactory::InsertEdgeBasedNode(const NodeID node_u, const NodeI
     NodeID current_edge_source_coordinate_id = node_u;
 
     // traverse arrays from start and end respectively
-    for (const auto i : util::irange(0UL, geometry_size))
+    for (const auto i : util::irange(std::size_t{ 0 }, geometry_size))
     {
         BOOST_ASSERT(current_edge_source_coordinate_id ==
                      m_compressed_edge_container.GetBucketReference(