Release Notes - Seatmap Platform

Version 1.59.0 - 2026-02-24

Release Focus: Path-Based Transformation - Curved Venue Seating

What’s New

Path-Based Transformation (PBT)

The headline feature of this release introduces a completely new way to design seating layouts for curved venues. Instead of placing sections as rectangular grids, you can now align seats along curved paths that follow the natural shape of arenas, amphitheaters, and stadiums.

What This Means for You:

Natural Curved Layouts: Seats automatically follow the venue’s curved architecture, producing realistic arena and stadium seating maps
Automatic Seat Rotation: Each seat rotates to face the correct direction along the curve, just like real-world venues
Smooth Section Outlines: Outlines follow the curve with rounded corners and smoothing, giving sections a polished, professional appearance
Flexible Alignment: Position sections along the path with TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT, or CENTER alignment - including both horizontal and vertical centering
Configurable Padding and Labels: Row labels and padding adapt to curved layouts, with per-row precision and configurable settings

How It Works:

In the editor, select a section and switch to Path-Based Transformation mode using the new toggle in the Transform panel. The section’s rows will redistribute along the nearest venue shape path, with seats properly spaced and rotated. You can fine-tune the result with alignment controls and outline settings.

Key Capabilities:

Seats scale and space correctly using perpendicular ray projection for accurate positioning
Virtual seat calculation ensures proper padding and row label placement
Simplified outline option for a cleaner look when full detail is not needed
Curved title paths that follow section contours
Full persistence - PATH_BASED transformation settings are saved with the schema and recalculated on load

Venue Shape Canvas Integration

Venue shapes have been moved from an SVG overlay to the main Fabric canvas. This means venue shapes now behave like other canvas objects - they can be selected, moved, and manipulated directly, providing a more consistent and intuitive editing experience.

Price Assignment Change Detection (SEAT-846)

A new PRICES_CHANGED event now fires when price assignments are modified, making it easier to detect and respond to pricing changes across the platform. This release also includes fixes for multiple price assignment bugs in both the editor and booking services, ensuring accurate and reliable pricing workflows.

Platform Stability Improvements

We have invested in backend reliability with targeted fixes:

Database Performance: Optimized query strategies to handle large venue schemas more efficiently, preventing errors with complex seating configurations
Data Integrity: Improved data loading to ensure venue backgrounds and section details are always fully loaded, eliminating edge cases where incomplete data could cause issues
API Quality: Standardized error responses and documentation across public API endpoints
Code Quality: Added static analysis tooling and improved error handling patterns throughout the backend

Bug Fixes

Price Assignment

Fixed multiple issues where price assignments could be incorrectly applied or lost during editing and booking operations (SEAT-846)
Pricing changes are now reliably detected and propagated across services

Editor Stability

Fixed CSS styling conflicts where section outline styles could leak outside the editor canvas
Improved handling of auto-generated outlines and row labels
Fixed code obfuscation issues in production builds
Corrected SVG attribute handling for better background rendering fidelity

Backend Reliability

Resolved database query errors that could occur with venues having many sections and attributes
Fixed data loading issues that could result in incomplete venue backgrounds
Added safety checks to prevent errors during section validation and deletion
Corrected API error response schemas for consistent client handling

What’s Inside

This release includes 97 commits focused on curved venue seating and platform stability:

Main Changes:

Path-Based Transformation - Complete curved seating system with outlines, alignment, and persistence
Venue Shape Canvas - Migrated venue shapes to interactive Fabric canvas
Price Assignment - Change detection events and bug fixes (SEAT-846)
Backend Stability - Database query optimization and data integrity improvements
CI/CD Pipeline - Parallel builds, profiling, and tooling upgrades
Editor Fixes - SVG handling, outline styling, and obfuscation corrections

Components Updated:

Editor Client - Path-Based Transformation, venue shape canvas, outline improvements
Editor Service - PBT storage support, database stability fixes, API standardization
Booking Client (Renderer) - Price assignment event support
Booking Service - Price assignment bug fixes, API documentation
Common Library - No changes

Migration Guide

For Existing Users

Excellent News: This release is 100% backwards compatible.

No code changes required No configuration updates needed No database migrations required No API changes Drop-in replacement for previous version

Existing venue schemas continue to work exactly as before. Path-Based Transformation is an opt-in feature that you activate per section in the editor.

New Features to Explore

Path-Based Transformation: Open a venue with curved shapes in the editor, select a section, and toggle PATH_BASED mode in the Transform panel. Adjust alignment (TOP/BOTTOM/LEFT/RIGHT/CENTER) to position the section along the curve.
Venue Shape Interaction: Venue shapes on the canvas can now be selected and manipulated directly, just like other editor objects.
Section Alignment: Use the new alignment controls to precisely position curved sections relative to the venue path. CENTER alignment (both horizontal and vertical) provides the most balanced look for symmetric venues.
Simplified Outlines: Enable the simplified outline option in the Transform panel for a cleaner section boundary when working with curved layouts.

Testing Recommendations

While no changes are required, we recommend:

Curved Venue Testing: Open an existing arena or stadium venue and try applying Path-Based Transformation to sections
Outline Quality: Check that section outlines render smoothly along curves with the smoothing and simplified outline options
Price Assignment: Verify that price changes are correctly reflected across editor and booking after updating assignments
Existing Venues: Confirm that previously created venues load and render without any changes

Impact

Editor Capabilities

Dramatically improved support for curved and non-rectangular venue layouts
More intuitive venue shape interaction on the canvas
Better visual quality for arena and stadium seating maps

User Experience

Professional-looking curved seating layouts without manual seat placement
Consistent alignment options for precise section positioning
Smoother outlines and cleaner section boundaries

Platform Reliability

More robust database query handling for large venues
Reliable price assignment across all services
Improved API consistency and error handling
Stronger code quality foundations with static analysis

Development Velocity

Parallel CI/CD builds reduce pipeline times
Better profiling and diagnostics for build optimization
Upgraded tooling for more reliable version management

Thank You

This release represents a significant step forward in venue design capabilities. Path-Based Transformation opens up a new class of seating layouts for curved venues, while the stability and quality improvements strengthen the platform foundation.

What’s Next?

With Path-Based Transformation in place, we’re working on:

Advanced curved layout refinements and additional alignment modes
Enhanced visual tools for complex venue designs
Performance optimizations for large-scale venues
Continued platform reliability improvements

Stay tuned for more updates!

Questions? Contact the Seatmap team or check our documentation at seatmap.pro.