diff --git a/projects/vtkonly.cmake b/projects/vtkonly.cmake
index 9ed44f8ebf0505fa129c06272b16f4eb197d8f0d..b8bb362e151bbb1a2f382d490b377fe6db8fc4c8 100644
--- a/projects/vtkonly.cmake
+++ b/projects/vtkonly.cmake
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ if (tbb_enabled)
   set(vtk_smp_backend "TBB")
 endif ()
 
+set(vtkonly_geoviscore "DEFAULT")
+if (gdal_enabled)
+  set(vtkonly_geoviscore "YES")
+endif()
+
 set(vtk_dll_paths)
 if (qt5_dllpath)
   list(APPEND vtk_dll_paths
@@ -50,12 +55,11 @@ endif ()
 superbuild_add_project(vtkonly
   DEBUGGABLE
   DEPENDS
-    gdal
     png
     zlib
     netcdf
   DEPENDS_OPTIONAL
-    cxx11 freetype libarchive python3 qt5 hdf5 las tbb
+    cxx11 freetype gdal libarchive python3 qt5 hdf5 las tbb
   CMAKE_ARGS
     -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS:BOOL=ON
     -DVTK_BUILD_TESTING:BOOL=OFF
@@ -68,8 +72,8 @@ superbuild_add_project(vtkonly
     -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_GUISupportQt:STRING=${vtkonly_qt_req}
     # CMB needs geovis enabled to provide the gdal reader
     -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_CommonArchive:STRING=${vtkonly_libarchive_req}
-    -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_GeovisCore:STRING=YES
-    -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_IOGDAL:STRING=YES
+    -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_GeovisCore:STRING=${vtkonly_geoviscore}
+    -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_IOGDAL:STRING=${vtkonly_geoviscore}
     -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_IOLAS:STRING=${vtkonly_las_req}
     -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_IOParallelExodus:STRING=YES
     -DVTK_MODULE_ENABLE_VTK_RenderingContextOpenGL2:STRING=YES