Versioning – Avenza Maps

Versioning allows you to upload a new updated version of your map. This option is recommended for:

Updating yearly editions of maps
Adding new data onto a map
Fixing significant errors

When the new version is released, any Avenza Maps user who owns the previous version will be notified that a new version is available.

New Update Available notification within App

You can choose to offer the new version to users who have previously purchased the map at full price, a discounted price or for free. Users who are purchasing the map for the first time will purchase it at full price.

Click on one of your maps within your vendor site to bring up its Edit Product page. On the right side bar, click on Update this map under the Actions menu.

Actions sidebar

Update this map popup

A popup will appear with a few options:

Create a new version - This option is another way for publishers to update their maps, it’s recommended for when you wish to update a map that has a new version available, would like to notify users about it and charge for the update. It’s commonly used for updating yearly editions of maps or adding new data onto a map.

New versions of maps can be offered to users who have previously purchased the map at full price, a discounted price or for free. They will also be notified within the app when a new version is available.

Update Map File or Pricing - This option is for:

Graphical Errors
Text/ Metadata Errors
Georeferencing Errors

Users who have previously purchased/downloaded the map will receive the update for free, but will not be notified. They will need to delete and re-download the map from their Purchase History to see the map file changes. Any new users who download the map will receive the latest map file that you uploaded.

For more information about updating the map file, please read the support article: Updating a Map on the Map Store.

Click Create a New Version. The popup will change and ask you if you want to keep the previous version on the Map Store until the new version is made available. This is meant to avoid any downtime that may be necessary while your new version is being reviewed by the Map Store team.

Create a New Version popup

You will then be prompted to upload a new map file.

Add a New Map popup

Once the map has begun uploading, you can the map information of the Edit Product page. All of the details from the previous version are copied over and the new version will automatically be given a new version number. The previous version of the map will remain for sale until the new version of the map has been approved and is for sale within the Map Store. Then the previous version will be placed in the Archived state.

More information on the Archived state can be found in this support article: Map States.

Before the new version can be submitted for review, there are a few things that need to be completed, the What’s New? field and the Pricing.

Version Information

There is an entirely new section when a map is versioned. There is a required field and some version information about your map.

Version Information section on Edit Product page

What’s New? - This field is required when you create a new version of a map. It is a field where you can list or describe the changes between the previous map version and the new one. This field will be displayed on the Map Store for users to see.

All versions - This information describes the previous versions of the map with the title, version number and the state of the map. As more versions of a map are created, this area will populate with more version information.

Version # - This information tells you the version number of the map you are currently viewing. The version number can also be found on the vendor site homepage under Version.

Vendor site homepage map information with Version highlighted

Click

at the top of the page when you are done editing the What’s New? field to save your map information.

Pricing

You can alter the price of the new version of the map on the Pricing field. Please note that if you set the price to a price tier that you have not used before, the SKU will have to be approved by Apple and Google before it can be released for sale in the Map Store. This may result in longer review times for your map.

There are a couple of new options for the Pricing section on a new version of a map:

Pricing section on Edit Product page

Discounted? Checkbox - New versions of maps can be offered to users who have previously purchased the map at a discounted price or for free.

Checked - The map will be offered to users who have previously purchased the map at the Discount Price specified in the field below. New users who purchase the map will be charged the price specified in the Pricing field.

Unchecked - The map will not be discounted and offered to all users at the price specified in the Pricing field.

Discount Price - This field is only active when the Discounted? checkbox is checked and it’s default setting is Free. This is the discount price that is offered to users who have previously purchased the map.

Click

at the top of the page when you are done editing the Pricing information to save your map information. Then click Submit for Review when you want to re-release your map into the Map Store.

Actions side panel

The new version of the map will be reviewed by the Map Store Team and any new SKUs will need to be approved by Apple and Google. When your map is approved, it will be released for sale into the Map Store. Users who have purchased the previous version of the map will be notified in the App.

Map Bundles

If you’d like to version a map or maps that are within a bundle, create a new version for the individual map(s) first and then version the bundle to update the map(s) within the bundle. Versioned individual maps are not automatically updated within bundles. The bundle must be versioned as well for the individual map to update within the bundle. If the bundle is not versioned, the map within the bundle will remain as the previous version. Versioning a bundle is the same process as versioning an individual map except you do not have to upload any new maps. Versioning a bundle refreshes the link between the individual maps so that the latest version of the maps are within the bundle.