When we introduced Ninja Geolocation 3.5 Beta, we announced a complete rebuild powered by WPGeo Framework, along with new fields including Distance & Duration, Address Validation, Nearest Locations, Drawing Tools, and Drawing Shape.
Ninja Geolocation 3.5.0-beta4 continues that work with two major improvements: WPGeo Framework is now included directly inside the plugin, and a dedicated migration system provides a safer upgrade path from Ninja Geolocation 3.1.1.
Customers no longer need to install or maintain WPGeo Framework as a separate WordPress plugin. The migration system also protects existing settings, forms, field configurations, actions, and saved submission data during the transition to the new 3.5 structure.
Beta 4 additionally includes important security and reliability improvements for the Nearest Locations field and further refinements to the shared foundation that powers Ninja Geolocation.
This remains a beta release. Please back up your site and test the update on a staging or development environment before updating a production website.
WPGeo Framework Is Now Built In
WPGeo Framework provides the shared foundation used by Ninja Geolocation and our other compatible WPGeo-powered plugins.
In earlier Ninja Geolocation 3.5 beta releases, WPGeo Framework was installed and updated as a separate WordPress plugin. Starting with Beta 4, WPGeo Framework 1.0.0-beta27 is included directly with Ninja Geolocation.
For customers, this creates a simpler installation and update process:
- Install and update Ninja Geolocation as one plugin.
- No separate WPGeo Framework download is required.
- No additional framework plugin needs to be maintained.
- Compatible WPGeo-powered plugins can share the same framework foundation.
This change does not remove any of the benefits of the shared framework. It simply places the required framework directly inside the plugin package so WordPress can load a compatible version automatically.
What Happens to the Standalone WPGeo Framework Plugin?
Existing sites that already have the standalone WPGeo Framework plugin are handled through a safe transition process.
On an ordinary single-site WordPress installation, if the separate framework plugin is no longer required, it may be automatically deactivated and marked as safe to delete.
The standalone WPGeo Framework plugin is not automatically deleted. You remain in control of removing it from your site.
WordPress multisite installations are handled more conservatively. A network-active framework plugin will not be blindly deactivated because another site or plugin on the network may still depend on it.
If you use more than one WPGeo-powered plugin, they can share one compatible framework foundation without requiring you to manage multiple framework installations.
Safer Upgrades from Ninja Geolocation 3.1.1
Ninja Geolocation 3.5 introduces a dedicated migration system designed to carry existing plugin configuration into the new version without requiring customers to rebuild their forms.
The migration process has been verified using a complete upgrade from the previously published Ninja Geolocation 3.1.1 release to Ninja Geolocation 3.5.
During the upgrade, the migration system preserves and updates:
- Global plugin settings from the existing installation.
- License information and existing feature access.
- Existing Ninja Forms and form-level geolocation settings.
- Legacy geolocation fields and field options.
- Dynamic Field configurations connected to geolocation data.
- Repeater and nested-field configurations.
- GEO my WP Create Post action settings used by existing workflows.
- Existing Geocoder, Map, Directions, and related submission values.
The migration adds the current settings required by version 3.5 without deleting the legacy configuration and submission data stored by the previous version.
Preserving Existing Submission Data
Previous Ninja Geolocation versions stored some Geocoder, Map, and Directions values in older formats. Rather than unnecessarily rewriting every historical submission, Ninja Geolocation 3.5 includes compatibility handling that allows supported legacy values to remain readable.
This approach reduces unnecessary changes to historical submission data while allowing existing Geocoder, Map, and Directions values to work with the current plugin.
Existing legacy Directions Panel submission values are not deleted during migration. However, the retired standalone Directions Panel value output is not restored in version 3.5, so sites that depend on that specific historical output should review their workflow during staging tests.
Safe to Check More Than Once
The migration is designed to be repeat-safe. Once settings, actions, forms, fields, and submission data have been processed, another migration check does not repeatedly modify the same information.
If part of the migration cannot complete, it is not incorrectly treated as finished. The plugin can notify an administrator that the migration needs attention without unnecessarily preventing the public-facing website from loading.
The upgrade process has been tested with global settings, license data, form settings, geolocation fields, Dynamic Fields, nested repeaters, GEO my WP actions, and existing submission values.
Testing also confirmed that migrated forms remain available in the Ninja Forms builder and continue rendering on the frontend.
Although the migration has been extensively tested, every WordPress site can contain different forms, actions, add-ons, custom code, and stored submission data. A complete backup and staging test remain essential before upgrading production.
Nearest Locations Security and Reliability Improvements
The Nearest Locations field finds and displays the closest matching locations relative to an address, coordinate, current location, or selected map point.
Beta 4 strengthens how public Nearest Locations requests are processed, particularly when locations are loaded from a database.
Public requests no longer provide the database configuration used to locate records. Instead, Ninja Geolocation resolves the trusted Nearest Locations field settings saved by the site administrator before querying available locations.
This keeps public requests within the configuration established in the Ninja Forms builder rather than accepting raw location-source settings from the browser.
Additional improvements include:
- Improved manual-location parsing for supported location-list formats.
- Stronger coordinate validation before locations are processed.
- More consistent zero-distance results when the origin and destination represent the same location.
- Better enforcement of result limits configured by the administrator.
- Refined Google Routes Matrix options for travel-based nearest-location calculations.
- Short-lived server-side caching for identical Matrix requests.
The short-lived cache can prevent unnecessary repeat requests when the same calculation is requested more than once within a brief period. This can improve efficiency while preserving the configured location and routing behavior.
These are proactive security and reliability improvements. They do not indicate a known exploit, customer-data compromise, or emergency security event.
A More Consistent Shared Foundation
Embedding WPGeo Framework helps ensure that Ninja Geolocation is distributed with the framework functionality it requires.
The shared framework allows compatible products to use the same underlying geolocation components while each plugin continues to provide integrations and workflows designed for its supported form builder.
For Ninja Geolocation customers, this means fewer separate components to manage and a more predictable update process as development of version 3.5 continues.
The Distance & Duration, Address Validation, Nearest Locations, Drawing Tools, Drawing Shape, geocoding, mapping, and routing features introduced during the 3.5 beta cycle remain part of the product according to the plan allocations described in the original beta announcement.
Existing plan allocations and site allowances are not changed by this framework and migration update.
Google Maps Platform Reminder
Ninja Geolocation 3.5 uses the current Google Maps Platform services, including:
- Places API (New) for relevant address and place functionality.
- Routes API for routing, Distance & Duration, and relevant Nearest Locations Matrix calculations.
Please confirm that the required services are enabled in your Google Cloud Console before testing the beta.
For complete setup instructions, see our Google Maps API setup documentation.
Google Maps Platform usage may consume API quota and can result in charges from Google depending on your account, configuration, and usage.
What to Check Before Updating
Before installing Ninja Geolocation 3.5 Beta 4:
- Back up your website and database.
- Install the update on a staging or development site first.
- Confirm that existing plugin and license settings remain available.
- Review important forms and their geolocation field settings after migration.
- Test existing submissions containing Geocoder, Map, and Directions values.
- Test new form submissions and saved location values.
- Verify Dynamic Fields, repeaters, nested fields, calculations, conditional logic, actions, and custom integrations that depend on location data.
- Test any workflow that previously used the standalone Directions Panel value output.
- Confirm that Places API (New) and Routes API are enabled where required.
- On multisite, review the network status of the standalone WPGeo Framework plugin before making manual changes.
If your site uses custom PHP or JavaScript integrations, test those customizations carefully before updating production.
Download Ninja Geolocation 3.5 Beta 4
Ninja Geolocation 3.5 Beta 4 provides a simpler one-plugin installation, a dedicated migration path for existing 3.1.1 customers, and stronger security and reliability for Nearest Locations workflows.
Existing customers can download the beta from their account under File Downloads.
Not a Ninja Geolocation customer yet? You can review the available plans on the Ninja Geolocation pricing page.
This is still beta software. Please use staging, create a complete backup, and verify your important workflows before considering an update to a production website.
Your feedback continues to help us prepare Ninja Geolocation 3.5 for its stable release. Please report any bugs, compatibility problems, or unexpected behavior through our support page.