AO Release Notes 2026

What's new in Absolute Ocean (AO) in 2026, newest first. Every release also includes security, performance and reliability improvements that aren't listed here. Features marked turned on per organization are available on request: contact support@terradepth.com.

To find out which release your AO runs, see Which release does my AO run? at the end of this page.

October 21, 2026 (2026.19)

• Heights or depths: when you visualize, AO works out from the coordinate reference system whether values are heights or depths, and asks you when it can't, so depths no longer come out with the wrong sign.
• Privacy Policy: AO's Privacy Policy is now linked from the sign-in page.
• Upgrades for self-hosted AO and AO OnBoard: groundwork for in-place upgrades, including database upgrades with resume and rollback.

Fixes:

• A retried upload could leave an empty file record behind.
• Renaming a project or visualization now updates the Layers window and the project's label on the map.
• The Files tab explains when a cloud mount's path is missing or misconfigured.

October 7, 2026 (2026.18)

• Cloud mounts: only Admins can choose or change a project's cloud mount. Professionals can work in the cloud-mounted projects assigned to them.
• Help Center: AO's Help Center link and in-app help now open the new Terradepth Help Center.
• AO CLI 1.7.1: transfers that run longer than about two hours no longer fail with sign-in errors. Download it from the AO Tools project.

Fixes:

• Grids that went through a vertical datum conversion lost their decimal places.
• Visualization progress no longer drops back just before it finishes.
• Deleting a project now stops its visualizations that are still in progress.
• Double-clicking Save & Continue on a new project could create two projects.
• Some visualizations failed with "Asset Server is not responding" for a day after the release.

September 23, 2026 (2026.17)

Fixes:

• The map no longer flickers black.
• Rasters with no valid data now fail straight away with an explanation.
• The External Layers eye icon works again, and a layer that can't load says so.

September 9, 2026 (2026.16)

Fixes:

• Canceling a visualization is more reliable and explains what happened.
• A sign-in refresh during Visualize could submit the visualization twice.
• The map recovers from some grid display errors instead of stopping.
• Long latitude values were cut off.

Late August 2026 (2026.15)

• Retry failed uploads: a new Retry action restarts a failed upload without starting the whole upload again.
• Faster visualization: a new transfer engine for visualization processing. In our tests, transfers are 35% faster on average.
• When you delete a file, the option to delete its visualizations appears only when it has some.

Fixes:

• Successful grid visualizations could be reported as failed.
• Very large visualizations could run out of memory.
• GeoTIFFs that use NaN as their NoData value are accepted.
• Tidal datums that can't be transformed for the selected area are rejected up front, instead of failing later.
• Files can't be deleted while their visualizations are still being made.
• Point clouds look sharp again (eye-dome lighting restored).

August 12, 2026 (2026.14)

• Clearer uploads: upload rows are grouped by status, with overall progress, time remaining and a summary when the upload finishes, so it's easy to spot files that need attention.
• Unzip in AO: extract a ZIP that's already in a project, for example one uploaded with the AO CLI, from its row in the Files tab.
• Upload only visualizable files: an upload option that leaves out files AO can't visualize.
• Faster transfers: a new file transfer engine for uploads and downloads. In our tests, uploads are 18% faster and downloads 53% faster on average.

Fixes:

• Coordinate transformation warnings and errors now show the actual reason.
• Error messages no longer appear twice.

July 29, 2026 (2026.13)

• Visualizations in the Files tab: each file lists its visualizations, with their status and count. Open and manage visualizations without leaving the Files tab.
• Projects window: opens nearly full screen and remembers its size. Show or hide columns in the Files, Visualizations, Layers and Objects tables.
• Files tab: filter by the Visualization column, and include visualizations when you export the file list.
• Tidal datums: data referenced to mean lower low water (MLLW), mean low water (MLW), mean high water (MHW) or mean higher high water (MHHW) can be transformed using NOAA VDatum, where VDatum covers the area.
• Coordinate reference systems: AO checks that a transformation is available for your choice and location before you visualize, and the CRS picker works without internet access.

Fixes:

• Tidal data could be transformed twice, or labeled with the wrong datum.
• The CRS you choose now takes priority over the one in the file.
• ASCII grids displayed gray instead of in color.
• After an AO update, the map could fail to load until the browser cache was cleared.

July 15, 2026 (2026.12)

• AO CLI:
  • Conflict checks are about 50% faster on large file sets.
  • New aocli drive report command summarizes a local folder's files, counts and sizes.
  • New --visualizable option limits uploads, downloads and reports to files AO can visualize.
  • Works with accounts that belong to more than one organization.
  • Retries failed uploads automatically and detects changed files more reliably.
  • Creates download folders when they don't exist.
  • Clearer summaries before and after each transfer, and clearer live progress.
  • Standard command-line flags and fuller built-in help, with --limit to cap bandwidth and --threads to run more transfers at once.

Fixes:

• Interrupted uploads could leave files that blocked deleting a folder.
• A deleted layer could stay on the map.

July 1, 2026 (2026.11)

• AO CLI:
  • Multi-threaded downloads, to match uploads.
  • Skips files that already exist with the same content.
  • Live progress with time remaining and throughput.
  • A summary to confirm before each transfer, and statistics after it.
  • Upload summaries count the visualizable files.
  • Multi-threaded uploads work with every conflict setting.
  • New aocli version command.
• Objects: when the global Objects layer is off, the project's Objects tab says so and lets you turn it back on.

Fixes:

• The profile line stayed on the map after closing the profile.
• Project dots on the map didn't update when a project was created or deleted.
• The AO CLI no longer crashes after a failed sign-in.

June 17, 2026 (2026.10)

• AO CLI: optional multi-threading makes uploads up to three times faster, and optional rate limiting suits slow or shared connections.
• Location search: search by coordinates in decimal degrees, degrees and minutes, or degrees, minutes and seconds. AO's own location search also works offline and on self-hosted systems, ranks states and countries better (including by code), and handles misspellings. AO's own location search is turned on per organization.
• Remote Sync and multiple organizations: choose the destination organization when you sync. Professionals and above can sync to organizations where they have permission. Turned on per organization.
• NOAA charts: when NOAA's chart service can't be reached, AO shows NOAA charts served by your AO server, so they also work without internet access.

Fixes:

• A KML or KMZ file with invalid coordinates could stop the Visualizations tab from loading.
• Copy lat/lon didn't work on some self-hosted systems.
• The profile tool could keep redrawing after you finished drawing.

June 3, 2026 (2026.09)

• Multiple organizations: one AO account can belong to several organizations, with a switcher in the main menu. Turned on per organization.
• Cloud mounts: connect AO to your own storage, such as S3, Azure, SFTP and SMB, and work with those files much like files in AO.
• External layers: add map-ready external data, including animated layers, to AO.
• Layer sharing: copy a layer's definition to use it in GIS tools and other viewers. Shared-layer addresses work without signing in.
• Project file management: organize, search and manage project files.
• Objects: the Objects switch in Global Layers shows or hides all objects on the map. The Objects and Remote Sync tables can show 100 rows per page.

Fixes:

• The Files tab loads faster.
• Deleting a project could leave its visualizations and objects on the map.
• Adding a user with an email that's already in use now gives a clear message.

May 20, 2026 (2026.08)

• Large object sets: objects load as they're needed, so projects with tens of thousands of objects stay quick.
• Visualizations are removed from the Layers window when their project is deleted.
• Visualization names no longer have character restrictions.
• A loading indicator shows while AO checks for internet access for coordinate system lookups.

Fixes:

• Re-adding a removed user to an organization failed.
• Folders that still contained files could be deleted.
• Object counts could be wrong, and new objects flickered.

May 6, 2026 (2026.07)

• Cancel a visualization that's in progress.
• BAG files can be visualized as grids.
• Improved support for HYPACK MTX files.

Fixes:

• Some MTX files were read incorrectly.
• New users didn't appear in the user list until they had verified their email.
• Choosing View on a visualization still in progress could stop the map.

April 22, 2026 (2026.06)

• Fully disconnected networks: AO runs where all outside network access must be disabled.
• Position formats: show positions in decimal degrees, degrees and minutes, or degrees, minutes and seconds.
• Hardened base containers.

Fixes:

• Very large rasters could be split up incorrectly during visualization.
• Grids lost detail at UTM scale.
• Coordinate fields could switch back to decimal degrees.

April 1, 2026 (2026.05)

• New Projects window for every organization, with resizable columns. Choose a project's name to open it.

Fixes:

• New projects could show as public, and uploads to them failed until you signed in again.
• A deleted visualization could stay on the map.
• Polygon objects couldn't be selected, or didn't appear after a quick create.

March 11, 2026 (2026.04)

• BAG files can be visualized.

Fixes:

• Grids referenced to depth-down vertical datums, such as NAVD88 depth, displayed with the wrong sign.
• Only Terradepth support staff can now edit objects in public projects.

February 18, 2026 (2026.03)

Fixes:

• Share links could open with the wrong layers visible.
• After an AO update, some browsers kept running the old version.
• The search bar sometimes didn't appear.
• Errors saving an object are now shown.

January 28, 2026 (2026.02)

• Military symbols for object pins. Turned on per organization.
• Right-click to add an object on the map.
• New base imagery for AO systems without internet access, and a simpler map menu when AO is fully disconnected.
• Mission Planner: rendezvous segments. Turned on per organization.

Fixes:

• Large or worldwide GeoJSON files could fail to draw.
• Copying a share link failed in Safari.
• Professionals now see only the groups they own or belong to.

January 12, 2026 (2026.01)

• Layers window: resize column widths.
• Right-click to copy a position's latitude and longitude.
• Measure along a line with several points (polyline measurement).
• Projects window: show or hide columns.
• Without internet access: NOAA charts and mean sea level depths work offline; the AO OnBoard Remote Sync option is turned off while offline; public projects are hidden when public data can't be reached.
• Accounts without email: Admins can copy a password reset link to pass on. Turned on per organization.
• NOAA chart legends show their units (feet or meters).
• When a visualization fails, AO shows why.

Fixes:

• An expired session now returns you to the sign-in page.
• Duplicate project, folder and file names are detected regardless of upper or lower case.
• Dragging and dropping many files at once works reliably.

Which release does my AO run?

In AO, click your initial in the top right corner, choose My Account and open Version. Find the Geo API row's version code in this table:

Release	Date	Geo API version code
2026.19	October 21	49312e5
2026.18	October 7	2a2e006
2026.17	September 23	ac945ee
2026.16	September 9	e7e5d7c
2026.15	Late August	7a58fbb
2026.14	August 12	a9e8d87
2026.13	July 29	62cedc4
2026.12	July 15	676ec28
2026.11	July 1	5c7ed3d
2026.10	June 17	f526d60
2026.09	June 3	962f69b
2026.08	May 20	63cd42a
2026.07	May 6	b9d26f1
2026.06	April 22	76602a8

If your code isn't listed, send a screenshot of the Version tab to support@terradepth.com, and support will tell you which release it is.

For earlier releases, see AO Release Notes 2025, or all years.