As we continue to innovate and improve Nearmap AI, we mark major changes in performance and capability with a new "generation" of content. This section provides a description of the new performance, features and content introduced with each generation of Nearmap AI data. Multiple generations will be available for export at any given time, with the latest generations typically on the most recent capture dates.
AI generations currently available:
Availability
All generations are available for visualization in MapBrowser and offline delivery.
AI System Generation | MapBrowser View AI Layers | AI Feature API | AI Offline |
|---|
Gen 6 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Gen 5 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Gen 4 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Gen 3 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
Gen 2 | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
Gen 1 | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ |
How Versions Work
We use a versioning system to help customers keep track of improvements over time. It is loosely based on the Semantic Versioning Specification (SemVer) used for software development, but we have adapted it to our needs with AI generated geospatial data. It is very important to note that rather than versioning a piece of software, this represents a combined version of the system that produces the data, and the data itself. Multiple versions and generations of data may be available at any given point, and from Gen 3 onwards, the AI System Version will always be denoted strictly by a version of the format shown below. An "AI System Version" (or systemVersion in the AI Feature API responses) looks like this:
gen3-winter_sunrise-1.1
The version is comprised of three components, separated by hyphens:
- Generation
- Config name
- Minor and patch versions
Using the example above "gen3-winter_sunrise-1.1", here's a description of the components of the version.
Component | Name | Description |
|---|
gen3 | Generation | The Generation can be considered a major change (in SemVer equivalent terms). Often, a single AI generation comprises several internal releases with features and improvements that move through Alpha and Beta testing
phases before being finally released as a new AI generation. |
winter_sunrise | Config Name | The Config Name typically consists of two words separated by an underscore, which together indicate changes to the system that produces the AI data. The first word represents a minor change while the second one represents a patch change on the pre-processed data. For example, for Gen 3, there is only one formal Config Name (winter_sunrise) for our standard production data as described in the relevant AI Pack pages. If custom data is provided in an offline delivery, the config name will always be "custom_config". |
1.1 | Minor version.Patch version | The Minor Version may be incremented if new attributes or improvements are introduced on an existing generation and config name. The intent is that this is backwards compatible - most attributes will remain unchanged. The patch version is reserved for changes to the data that do not change format or add new attributes. Due to the scale of the data we work with (billions of polygons and their metadata), most customers will not noticed any
difference at all when the patch version is increased. |
NOTE: The rule of thumb for a generation change is that it breaks backwards compatibility. This means that performing change detection between two dates must be done with great care, as the improvements in the more recent generation may be more prevalent than the genuine on-the-ground changes when looking for differences.