diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLFeatureUtil.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLFeatureUtil.java
index a3eb0221a92..bf530cf638f 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLFeatureUtil.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLFeatureUtil.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import static org.geoserver.mapml.MapMLConstants.MAPML_SKIP_STYLES_FO;
 import static org.geoserver.mapml.template.MapMLMapTemplate.MAPML_FEATURE_FTL;
 import static org.geoserver.mapml.template.MapMLMapTemplate.MAPML_FEATURE_HEAD_FTL;
+import static org.geoserver.mapml.template.MapMLMapTemplate.MapMLFeatureWrapper.COORDINATES_BLANK;
 
 import freemarker.template.TemplateNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.util.StringJoiner;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.Logger;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import javax.xml.bind.JAXBException;
 import org.geoserver.catalog.LayerInfo;
 import org.geoserver.catalog.MetadataMap;
@@ -32,11 +34,14 @@
 import org.geoserver.mapml.tcrs.TiledCRSParams;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.template.MapMLMapTemplate;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.BodyContent;
+import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Coordinates;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Feature;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.HeadContent;
+import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.LineString;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Link;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Mapml;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Meta;
+import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Point;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.ProjType;
 import org.geoserver.mapml.xml.RelType;
 import org.geoserver.ows.Request;
@@ -223,7 +228,11 @@ private static Optional<Mapml> getInterpolatedFromTemplate(
             SimpleFeatureCollection fc, SimpleFeature feature) {
         try {
             String templateOutput = mapMLMapTemplate.features(fc.getSchema(), feature);
-            return Optional.of(encoder.decode(new StringReader(templateOutput)));
+            Mapml out = encoder.decode(new StringReader(templateOutput));
+            if (out != null) {
+                replaceSpacePlaceholder(out.getBody().getFeatures());
+            }
+            return Optional.of(out);
         } catch (IOException e) {
             LOGGER.info(
                     "Error unmarshalling template output for MapML features "
@@ -232,6 +241,41 @@ private static Optional<Mapml> getInterpolatedFromTemplate(
         }
     }
 
+    private static void replaceSpacePlaceholder(List<Feature> features) {
+        for (Feature feature : features) {
+            if (feature.getGeometry() != null) {
+                if (feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue() instanceof Point) {
+                    Point point = (Point) feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
+                    point.getCoordinates().replaceAll(c -> c.replace(COORDINATES_BLANK, " "));
+                } else if (feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue()
+                        instanceof LineString) {
+                    LineString lineString =
+                            (LineString) feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
+                    lineString.getCoordinates().replaceAll(c -> c.replace(COORDINATES_BLANK, " "));
+                } else if (feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue()
+                        instanceof org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString) {
+                    org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString multiLineString =
+                            (org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString)
+                                    feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
+                    multiLineString
+                            .getTwoOrMoreCoordinatePairs()
+                            .replaceAll(
+                                    c -> {
+                                        c.getValue()
+                                                .replaceAll(f -> f.replace(COORDINATES_BLANK, " "));
+                                        return c;
+                                    });
+                } else if (feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue()
+                        instanceof org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint) {
+                    org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint multiPoint =
+                            (org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint)
+                                    feature.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
+                    multiPoint.getCoordinates().replaceAll(c -> c.replace(COORDINATES_BLANK, " "));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Append the CSS style from the template to the feature
      *
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLGenerator.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLGenerator.java
index 0a12377dcbc..77afa27f6e5 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLGenerator.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLGenerator.java
@@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPolygon buildMultiPolygon(MultiPolygon mpg)
     private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString buildMultiLineString(MultiLineString ml) {
         org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString multiLine =
                 new org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString();
-        List<JAXBElement<List<Coordinates>>> coordLists = multiLine.getTwoOrMoreCoordinatePairs();
+        List<JAXBElement<List<String>>> coordLists = multiLine.getTwoOrMoreCoordinatePairs();
         for (int i = 0; i < ml.getNumGeometries(); i++) {
             coordLists.add(
                     factory.createMultiLineStringCoordinates(
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiLineString buildMultiLineString(MultiLineSt
      */
     private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.LineString buildLineString(LineString l) {
         org.geoserver.mapml.xml.LineString lineString = new org.geoserver.mapml.xml.LineString();
-        List<Coordinates> lsCoords = lineString.getCoordinates();
+        List<String> lsCoords = lineString.getCoordinates();
         buildCoordinates(l.getCoordinateSequence(), lsCoords);
         return lineString;
     }
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.LineString buildLineString(LineString l) {
      */
     private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint buildMultiPoint(MultiPoint mp) {
         org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint multiPoint = new org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint();
-        List<Coordinates> mpCoords = multiPoint.getCoordinates();
+        List<String> mpCoords = multiPoint.getCoordinates();
         buildCoordinates(new CoordinateArraySequence(mp.getCoordinates()), mpCoords);
         return multiPoint;
     }
@@ -447,11 +447,7 @@ private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.MultiPoint buildMultiPoint(MultiPoint mp) {
     private org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Point buildPoint(Point p) {
         org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Point point = new org.geoserver.mapml.xml.Point();
         point.getCoordinates()
-                .add(
-                        new Coordinates(
-                                this.formatter.format(p.getX())
-                                        + SPACE
-                                        + this.formatter.format(p.getY())));
+                .add(this.formatter.format(p.getX()) + SPACE + this.formatter.format(p.getY()));
         return point;
     }
 
@@ -512,7 +508,7 @@ private Object buildTaggedCoordinateSequence(TaggedPolygon.TaggedCoordinateSeque
         } else {
             return new Span(
                     "bbox",
-                    buildCoordinatesFromStrings(
+                    buildCoordinates(
                             new CoordinateArraySequence(
                                     cs.getCoordinates().toArray(n -> new Coordinate[n])),
                             null));
@@ -524,8 +520,7 @@ private Object buildTaggedCoordinateSequence(TaggedPolygon.TaggedCoordinateSeque
      * @param coordList a list of coordinate strings to add to
      * @return
      */
-    private List<String> buildCoordinatesFromStrings(
-            CoordinateSequence cs, List<String> coordList) {
+    private List<String> buildCoordinates(CoordinateSequence cs, List<String> coordList) {
         if (coordList == null) {
             coordList = new ArrayList<>(cs.size());
         }
@@ -536,25 +531,6 @@ private List<String> buildCoordinatesFromStrings(
         return coordList;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * @param cs a JTS CoordinateSequence
-     * @param coordList a list of coordinate strings to add to
-     * @return
-     */
-    private List<Coordinates> buildCoordinates(CoordinateSequence cs, List<Coordinates> coordList) {
-        if (coordList == null) {
-            coordList = new ArrayList<>(cs.size());
-        }
-        for (int i = 0; i < cs.size(); i++) {
-            coordList.add(
-                    new Coordinates(
-                            this.formatter.format(cs.getX(i))
-                                    + SPACE
-                                    + this.formatter.format(cs.getY(i))));
-        }
-        return coordList;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Builds a space separated representation of the coordinate sequence
      *
@@ -583,7 +559,9 @@ private String buildCoordinates(List<Coordinate> cs) {
         return joiner.toString();
     }
 
-    /** @param numDecimals */
+    /**
+     * @param numDecimals
+     */
     public void setNumDecimals(int numDecimals) {
         // make a copy of relevant object state
         boolean fd = this.formatter.isForcedDecimal();
@@ -595,12 +573,16 @@ public void setNumDecimals(int numDecimals) {
         this.formatter.setPadWithZeros(pad);
     }
 
-    /** @param forcedDecimal */
+    /**
+     * @param forcedDecimal
+     */
     public void setForcedDecimal(boolean forcedDecimal) {
         this.formatter.setForcedDecimal(forcedDecimal);
     }
 
-    /** @param padWithZeros */
+    /**
+     * @param padWithZeros
+     */
     public void setPadWithZeros(boolean padWithZeros) {
         this.formatter.setPadWithZeros(padWithZeros);
     }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/template/MapMLMapTemplate.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/template/MapMLMapTemplate.java
index cbb91beb4d7..0cafbc82cec 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/template/MapMLMapTemplate.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/template/MapMLMapTemplate.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package org.geoserver.mapml.template;
 
 import freemarker.template.Configuration;
+import freemarker.template.SimpleHash;
 import freemarker.template.Template;
 import freemarker.template.TemplateException;
 import java.io.CharArrayWriter;
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
 import org.geoserver.template.GeoServerTemplateLoader;
 import org.geoserver.template.TemplateUtils;
 import org.geoserver.wms.featureinfo.FeatureTemplate;
+import org.geotools.api.feature.ComplexAttribute;
 import org.geotools.api.feature.Feature;
 import org.geotools.api.feature.simple.SimpleFeature;
 import org.geotools.api.feature.simple.SimpleFeatureType;
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ public class MapMLMapTemplate {
 
         templateConfig.setLocale(Locale.US);
         templateConfig.setNumberFormat("0.###########");
-        templateConfig.setObjectWrapper(new FeatureWrapper(FC_FACTORY));
+        templateConfig.setObjectWrapper(new MapMLFeatureWrapper(FC_FACTORY));
 
         // encoding
         templateConfig.setDefaultEncoding("UTF-8");
@@ -290,4 +292,19 @@ public boolean equals(Object obj) {
             return true;
         }
     }
+
+    public static class MapMLFeatureWrapper extends FeatureWrapper {
+        public static final String COORDINATES_BLANK = "MAPML_COORDINATES_BLANK";
+
+        public MapMLFeatureWrapper(DirectTemplateFeatureCollectionFactory factory) {
+            super(factory);
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        protected SimpleHash buildComplex(ComplexAttribute att) {
+            SimpleHash hash = super.buildComplex(att);
+            hash.put("space", COORDINATES_BLANK);
+            return hash;
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/LineString.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/LineString.java
index 8e3e74f90f9..3733fd225b7 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/LineString.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/LineString.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class LineString {
             required = true,
             name = "map-coordinates",
             namespace = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml")
-    protected List<Coordinates> coordinates;
+    protected List<String> coordinates;
 
     /**
      * Gets the value of the coordinates property.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public class LineString {
      *
      * @return list of coordinates elements
      */
-    public List<Coordinates> getCoordinates() {
+    public List<String> getCoordinates() {
         if (coordinates == null) {
             coordinates = new ArrayList<>();
         }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiLineString.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiLineString.java
index ff6ed6b8f6a..0dd6ea40093 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiLineString.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiLineString.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public class MultiLineString {
             name = "map-coordinates",
             type = JAXBElement.class,
             namespace = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml")
-    protected List<JAXBElement<List<Coordinates>>> twoOrMoreCoordinatePairs;
+    protected List<JAXBElement<List<String>>> twoOrMoreCoordinatePairs;
 
     /**
      * Gets the value of the twoOrMoreCoordinatePairs property.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public class MultiLineString {
      *
      * @return two or more coordinate pairs
      */
-    public List<JAXBElement<List<Coordinates>>> getTwoOrMoreCoordinatePairs() {
+    public List<JAXBElement<List<String>>> getTwoOrMoreCoordinatePairs() {
         if (twoOrMoreCoordinatePairs == null) {
             twoOrMoreCoordinatePairs = new ArrayList<>();
         }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiPoint.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiPoint.java
index b1136217657..b4b09fc1a3e 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiPoint.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/MultiPoint.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class MultiPoint {
             required = true,
             name = "map-coordinates",
             namespace = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml")
-    protected List<Coordinates> coordinates;
+    protected List<String> coordinates;
 
     /**
      * Gets the value of the map-coordinates property. Exception Description: The property or field
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public class MultiPoint {
      *
      * @return list of coordinates strings
      */
-    public List<Coordinates> getCoordinates() {
+    public List<String> getCoordinates() {
         if (coordinates == null) {
             coordinates = new ArrayList<>();
         }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/ObjectFactory.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/ObjectFactory.java
index 39b95a8584b..1918d038406 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/ObjectFactory.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/ObjectFactory.java
@@ -339,12 +339,11 @@ public JAXBElement<List> createPolygonCoordinates(List value) {
             namespace = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml",
             name = "map-coordinates",
             scope = MultiLineString.class)
-    public JAXBElement<List<Coordinates>> createMultiLineStringCoordinates(
-            List<Coordinates> value) {
+    public JAXBElement<List<String>> createMultiLineStringCoordinates(List<String> value) {
         return new JAXBElement<>(
                 _MultiPointCoordinates_QNAME,
                 ((Class) List.class),
                 MultiLineString.class,
-                ((List<Coordinates>) value));
+                ((List<String>) value));
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/Point.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/Point.java
index 2f82b0974ef..adcdf04f7ad 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/Point.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/main/java/org/geoserver/mapml/xml/Point.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class Point {
             required = true,
             name = "map-coordinates",
             namespace = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml")
-    protected List<Coordinates> coordinates;
+    protected List<String> coordinates;
 
     /**
      * Gets the value of the coordinates property.
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public class Point {
      *
      * @return list of coordinates strings
      */
-    public List<Coordinates> getCoordinates() {
+    public List<String> getCoordinates() {
         if (coordinates == null) {
             coordinates = new ArrayList<>();
         }
diff --git a/src/extension/mapml/src/test/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLWMSFeatureTest.java b/src/extension/mapml/src/test/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLWMSFeatureTest.java
index 9054a27aa0b..f90d6e4e40e 100644
--- a/src/extension/mapml/src/test/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLWMSFeatureTest.java
+++ b/src/extension/mapml/src/test/java/org/geoserver/mapml/MapMLWMSFeatureTest.java
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@ public void testCoordinateSimplification() throws Exception {
         li.getResource().getMetadata().put(MAPML_USE_FEATURES, true);
         li.getResource().getMetadata().put(MAPML_USE_TILES, false);
         cat.save(li);
+        String layerId = getLayerId(MockData.ROAD_SEGMENTS);
 
         // test with a small bbox, that should still lead to a geometric simplification
         Mapml mapml =
@@ -366,7 +367,7 @@ public void testMapMLFeaturePointHasClass() throws Exception {
                             + "      <map-geometry>"
                             + "       <map-point>"
                             + "       <map-coordinates><#list gattribute.rawValue.coordinates as coord>"
-                            + "        <#if coord?index == 0><![CDATA[<span class=\"desired\">]]>${coord.x} ${coord.y}<![CDATA[</span>]]><#else>${coord.x} ${coord.y}</#if></#list></map-coordinates></map-point>"
+                            + "        <#if coord?index == 0><![CDATA[<span${space}class=\"desired\">]]>${coord.x}${space}${coord.y}<![CDATA[</span>]]><#else>${coord.x}${space}${coord.y}</#if></#list></map-coordinates></map-point>"
                             + "      </map-geometry>"
                             + "    </#if>\n"
                             + "  </#list>\n"
@@ -390,8 +391,8 @@ public void testMapMLFeaturePointHasClass() throws Exception {
                             .getFeatures()
                             .get(0); // get the second feature, which has a class
             Point featurePoint = (Point) feature2.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
-            String coords = featurePoint.getCoordinates().get(0).getCoordinates().get(0).toString();
-            assertTrue(coords.contains("<span class=\"desired\">"));
+            String coords = featurePoint.getCoordinates().get(1);
+            assertTrue(coords.contains("class=\"desired\">"));
         } finally {
             if (template != null) {
                 template.delete();
@@ -422,7 +423,7 @@ public void testMapMLFeatureLineHasClass() throws Exception {
                             + "<map-feature>\n"
                             + "  <#list attributes as attribute>\n"
                             + "    <#if attribute.isGeometry>\n"
-                            + "      <map-geometry><map-linestring><map-coordinates><#list attribute.rawValue.coordinates as coord><#if coord?index == 3> <![CDATA[<span class=\"desired\">]]>${coord.x} ${coord.y}<#elseif coord?index == 4> ${coord.x} ${coord.y}<![CDATA[</span>]]><#else> ${coord.x} ${coord.y}</#if></#list></map-coordinates></map-linestring></map-geometry>\n"
+                            + "      <map-geometry><map-linestring><map-coordinates><#list attribute.rawValue.coordinates as coord><#if coord?index == 3>${space}<![CDATA[<span${space}class=\"desired\">]]>${coord.x}${space}${coord.y}<#elseif coord?index == 4>${coord.x}${space}${coord.y}<![CDATA[</span>]]><#else>${space}${coord.x}${space}${coord.y}</#if></#list></map-coordinates></map-linestring></map-geometry>\n"
                             + "    </#if>\n"
                             + "  </#list>\n"
                             + "</map-feature>\n"
@@ -444,8 +445,9 @@ public void testMapMLFeatureLineHasClass() throws Exception {
                             .get(0); // get the second feature, which has a class
             LineString featureLine =
                     (LineString) feature2.getGeometry().getGeometryContent().getValue();
-            String coords = featureLine.getCoordinates().get(0).getCoordinates().get(0).toString();
-            assertTrue(coords.contains("<span class=\"desired\">"));
+            String coords = featureLine.getCoordinates().get(7);
+            assertTrue(coords.contains("class=\"desired\">"));
+            template.delete();
         } finally {
             if (template != null) {
                 template.delete();