Azure Map Migration From Gen1 to Gen2

Question

Hello,

Good day!

I have a few questions before migrating an Azure Maps account from Gen1 to Gen2.

Since the migration cannot be rolled back, I want to understand the potential impact before proceeding, especially ahead of the retirement deadline.

Could you please help clarify the following?

Is there any Microsoft-recommended method or assessment tool to determine the impact of migrating from Gen1 to Gen2 before making the change?

Is there any way to validate whether our applications will continue to work after the migration without actually performing it?

Are there any known compatibility issues with existing Azure Maps REST APIs, SDKs, subscription keys, or Microsoft Entra ID authentication after migrating to Gen2?

Does Microsoft provide any pre-migration checklist or best practices to help identify potential issues?

Since rollback is not supported, what validation steps do you recommend before migrating a production Azure Maps account?

From the documentation, my understanding is that the migration is primarily a pricing-tier change and should not require application code changes unless deprecated APIs are being used. However, I'd like to confirm if there are any scenarios where customers have experienced unexpected impacts after migrating.

Thank you in advance for your guidance.

Answer 1

Your understanding is correct: changing an Azure Maps account from Gen1 to Gen2 changes the pricing tier, not the service endpoint or account identity. Microsoft states that subscription keys, the account client ID used with Microsoft Entra ID, and SAS tokens do not need to be regenerated.

There is no compatibility scanner for this change. For production assurance, create a temporary Gen2 account, point a staging deployment at it, and run representative REST/SDK tests, including throttling and authentication. Inventory every API version and Web SDK version before migration. This matters because Render v1 retires on September 17, 2026, and Web SDK Map Controls v1 on September 19, 2026; those upgrades are separate from the Gen1 pricing-tier migration.

Also compare Gen2 transaction pricing and QPS limits against usage, check Azure Advisor retirement recommendations, and update ARM/Bicep templates to Gen2. Gen1 accounts automatically upgrade on September 15, 2026, so complete testing beforehand.

Answer 2

Hi Folks,

There are no functionality differences between Gen 1 & Gen 2, only a pricing change. If you do nothing, your existing Gen 1 account will automatically be changed to Gen 2 September 15, 2026, and you will likely see changes in you bill amount the following month. For most your bill should be lower, Gen 1 S1 was $5 per 1K and Gen 2 is $4.50. The only price hike you will see is if you were on the trial Gen 1 S0 which was low QPS and not meant for production but was $0.50 per 1k for Apis for testing.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

Answer 3

Hello @Mohsin Khan

Based on Microsoft documentation and current Azure Maps guidance, your understanding is generally correct: the Gen1 → Gen2 migration is primarily a pricing-tier transition, not an API-platform migration. Microsoft explicitly states that subscription keys, Microsoft Entra ID client IDs, and SAS tokens remain valid after the pricing tier change.

1. Currently, Microsoft does not provide a dedicated impact assessment tool specifically for Azure Maps Gen1 → Gen2 migrations.

Recommended approach is:

Review Azure Maps usage metrics and transaction volumes before migration.

Identify which Azure Maps services are being consumed (Search, Routing, Rendering, Weather, Spatial, etc.).

Compare current usage patterns against Gen2 pricing and transaction models.

Review Azure Maps API versions and ensure your applications are not using deprecated endpoints or SDKs.

Validate authentication methods (Shared Key, Microsoft Entra ID, SAS).

The primary impact area Microsoft highlights is pricing and transaction consumption, rather than API compatibility.

2. There is no official “simulation” or “what-if” environment that allows a Gen1 account to behave as Gen2 before migration.

However, Microsoft-recommended best practice is:

Create a separate Azure Maps Gen2 account in a non-production subscription.

Execute your application's critical workflows against that Gen2 account.

Run regression and performance testing.

Compare:

API responses

Authentication behavior

Transaction counts

Application logs

Throughput characteristics

This provides the closest validation possible without changing the production account.

3. Are there known compatibility issues with REST APIs, SDKs, keys, or Microsoft Entra ID?

Based on Microsoft documentation:

Subscription Keys

1. Existing subscription keys continue to work. No regeneration is required, Microsoft Entra ID Authentication.
   2. Existing Client IDs and Entra authentication continue to work. No reconfiguration is required solely because of the pricing-tier migration. SAS Tokens
   3. No SAS token regeneration is required. Azure Maps REST APIs
   4. Azure Maps REST APIs remain supported after migration. Azure Maps SDKs
   5. Existing SDK integrations generally continue working.

4. Microsoft does not currently publish a formal Gen1→Gen2 migration readiness assessment checklist.

A practical checklist would include:

Identify all applications using the Azure Maps account.

Identify all API endpoints in use.

Identify authentication methods in use.

API Validation

Verify no deprecated APIs are being called.

Verify SDK versions are supported.

Authentication Validation

Test Shared Key authentication.

Test Microsoft Entra ID authentication.

Validate SAS token scenarios if applicable.

Cost Validation.

Export 30–90 days of Azure Maps usage.

Estimate Gen2 transaction costs.

Review budgets and cost alerts.

Monitoring

Enable Azure Monitor metrics.

Capture baseline performance and transaction counts.

Testing

Execute end-to-end business scenarios against a Gen2 test account.

5. Since rollback is not supported, we recommend:

Phase 1 – Discovery

Document all applications consuming Azure Maps.

Document APIs, SDK versions, and authentication methods.

Phase 2 – Test Environment

Deploy a separate Gen2 account.

Run automated regression testing.

Run authentication testing.

Run load/performance testing.

Phase 3 – Cost Analysis

Compare current Gen1 usage with Gen2 pricing.

Validate budget alerts and cost monitoring.

Phase 4 – Operational Readiness

Capture baseline response times.

Review logs for failed calls.

Prepare monitoring dashboards.

Phase 5 – Production Migration

Perform migration during a maintenance window.

Execute smoke tests immediately after migration.

Closely monitor authentication failures, transaction counts, and application errors for several days.

the Gen1→Gen2 transition is primarily a pricing-tier migration. For most customers, no application changes are required. The safest approach is to validate all critical workloads against a separate Gen2 Azure Maps account, confirm no deprecated APIs are in use, establish a cost baseline, and then proceed with production migration.

References: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-maps/how-to-manage-pricing-tier https://azure.microsoft.com/pricing/details/azure-maps/ https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-maps/authentication?tabs=REST https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-maps/migrate-search-v1-api https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/azure-maps/migrate-route-v1-api

Thanks,

Venkat.M