Why Upgrading to the Latest Azure Maps APIs Matters

At the Azure Maps Product Group, we work every day to provide you the best location and mapping solutions. Whether it’s through our developer-centric Azure Maps APIs or seamless integrations with low-code platforms like Power BI and Microsoft Fabric, our goal is to deliver accurate, reliable, and high-performance geospatial capabilities.

All Azure Maps products are powered by our APIs, which are also available for developers to integrate into their own applications. To ensure you get the best experience, with the highest data quality and global coverage, we strongly recommend using the latest versions of the Azure Maps REST APIs. This is the same approach we follow for all our first-party integrations within Microsoft.

You might wonder why upgrading to the latest API versions is so important. Let’s look at an example. One of the most widely used Azure Maps services is the Geocoder API. When we first launched version 1.0, it relied on a single data provider with basic AI-powered logic. While it served its purpose, the coverage and accuracy had room for improvement. Today, with the latest version (2025-01-01), we’ve taken geocoding to the next level by integrating multiple data providers, including TomTom, OpenStreetMap (OSM), and various regional and local sources. Our advanced AI-powered data fusion technology intelligently merges these datasets to provide superior accuracy, broader coverage, and an overall better geolocation experience.

However, with these improvements, there are also some necessary changes. The newer versions of our APIs now return results using the industry-standard GeoJSON format. This makes it easier to visualize data on any map, including when using the Azure Maps Web Control, without requiring additional transformations. Older versions, such as Geocoder API 1.0, did not adhere to this standard. Fortunately, the differences are minimal, and updating to the latest version requires only a small effort for developers.

In addition to our REST APIs, we also provide the Azure Maps Web Control, a powerful JavaScript-based client library that enables developers to build interactive mapping experiences in web applications. The Azure Maps Web Control has its own set of client APIs, which we regularly update to introduce new capabilities, enhance performance, and improve security. Staying up to date with the latest version ensures access to new features such as improved rendering, better integration with modern web frameworks, and optimizations for displaying large datasets. You can keep track of the latest improvements and updates by checking our release notes.

Another key reason we introduce new API versions is to align with emerging industry standards and regulations. For instance, with the adoption of ISO 20022—a new standard for payment processing that includes structured address formats—we’ve updated our APIs to ensure compliance and make it easier for businesses to integrate with financial systems that follow these regulations.

To help developers stay up to date, we provide a single reference page listing all the latest versions of our APIs, along with detailed documentation, migration guides, and best practices. You can find it here: Azure Maps REST API Documentation.

By keeping your integration up to date with the latest Azure Maps APIs and Web Control, you not only gain access to the newest features and highest data quality but also ensure compliance with evolving standards—allowing you to build more powerful and future-proof location-based applications.