diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index d4450d7a4c..1511191bd6 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 84088d4cba..2ae40dfb69 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 +62,14 @@ 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 .\scripts\get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1`) DO SET %%i=%%j
+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 306e10c863..5a27b9bf8e 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/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1 b/scripts/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dc3bd43c52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/get-boost-icu-version-from-sdk.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+$boost_version='0'
+$icu_version='0'
+
+#get boost and icu versions directly from the files in the SDK
+
+#boost_python-vc140-mt-1_61.dll
+$boost_version=(Get-ChildItem ".\mapnik-gyp\mapnik-sdk\lib" -Filter *boost*.dll)[0].BaseName.split("_")[-1]
+
+#icuin56.dll
+$icu_version=(Get-ChildItem ".\mapnik-gyp\mapnik-sdk\lib" -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" $icu_version"_1"
diff --git a/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1 b/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1
deleted file mode 100644
index f87ae7e3aa..0000000000
--- a/scripts/parse-appveyor-yml.ps1
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
-$boost_version='0'
-Get-Content .\appveyor.yml |
-    foreach { 
-        if ($_ -match "BOOST_VERSION: "){ $boost_version = $_.split()[-1] }
-    }
-Write-Host $boost_version