What happens to people on the old version
When you publish a new Map Version, nobody is moved onto it. Everybody who installed the older one keeps it, indefinitely, and is offered the update to take when they choose.
That is deliberate — a Map changing under somebody mid-event is worse than a Map being a version behind — and it has one consequence worth understanding: a Group can be split across two Map Versions.
What a mixed Group experiences
The good news first, because it is most of the answer.
Everybody is still drawn in the right real-world place. Positions are coordinates, and each person’s phone projects them through the Map Version it holds. So two people looking at two versions of your Map both see each other where they actually are, as accurately as their own version allows.
What differs is the description:
| What you changed | Effect on a mixed Group |
|---|---|
| You corrected calibration | People on the old version see everybody slightly displaced; people on the new one do not. Both see each other |
| You renamed an Area | The same place is described by two different names, depending on who is reading |
| You added an Area | Only the updated readers get the name; the others see somebody On the map |
| You removed an Area | Updated readers stop seeing it; the others still have it, including as a Meeting Point |
| You replaced the image | Two people are looking at two different pictures of the same place |
None of that breaks sharing, notifications, Meeting Points or the Friends list. It makes the Group’s vocabulary inconsistent, which matters most for a venue where people are directing each other by name.
What this means for how you publish
- Publish calibration fixes promptly. Until people update they are looking at the fault, and it is the one difference that affects where dots appear rather than what they are called.
- Batch cosmetic changes, so there are fewer update prompts. A prompt people learn to dismiss is worse than no prompt.
- Think twice before renaming or removing an Area on a Map already in use at a live venue. A rename mid-event produces two vocabularies in one Group for the rest of the day.
- Do not expect everybody to update. Some never will, so the older version has to remain a usable Map rather than a trap.
What you can see about it
Nothing, and this is worth knowing. There is no list of who installed your Map or which version they hold, and no count. That is a privacy property rather than a missing report: installing a Map does not tell its creator anything about the installer.
So the practical route to getting a venue updated is the venue’s own channels — telling the organiser, or the people you are with — rather than anything in the editor.
What happens if you delist or delete
Different questions, and both affect installers directly:
Related
- Create a new Map Version
- A new version of this map is available — the same event from the installer’s side