Bing Basemaps No Longer Functional in DHIS2 – Seeking Guidance on Alternatives

Support - Assistance technique
1

Hi DHIS2 Community,

I’m currently setting up maps in a new DHIS2 instance and have encountered a major issue with basemaps. Specifically, all four default Bing basemaps in DHIS2 —

  • Bing Road
  • Bing Aerial
  • Bing Aerial with Labels
  • Bing Dark

— are no longer working for me as a new user.

After investigating the issue, I discovered that Microsoft has officially announced the retirement of Bing Maps for Enterprise, with the following implications:

:small_blue_diamond: No new API keys are being issued to Basic (free) account holders.
:small_blue_diamond: All existing Basic keys have expired on June 30, 2025.
:small_blue_diamond: Microsoft recommends migrating to Azure Maps, their newer geospatial platform.
:small_blue_diamond: More info: Bing Maps Portal Notice

In my DHIS2 instance (version 40), attempts to load Bing maps fail with this error:

Basemap could not be added: Error: Bing Imagery Metadata error: 
{
  "authenticationResultCode": "DeniedCredentials",
  "statusCode": 403,
  "statusDescription": "Forbidden",
  "errorDetails": ["The request was forbidden. Your credentials may be denied or suspended."]
}

My Understanding So Far

  • This issue affects new DHIS2 users or instances, especially those who don’t have an existing Bing Maps Enterprise key.
  • Existing installations with previously issued keys might still be functioning — for now — but will eventually need migration.
  • The default DHIS2 mapping plugins and configuration still rely on Bing Maps as a default basemap option.

What I’m Looking For

I’m reaching out to ask:

  1. What are the recommended alternatives to Bing Maps for DHIS2 going forward — both in the short term and long term?
  2. Is there an official plan from the DHIS2 core team to support Azure Maps, Mapbox, ESRI, or custom XYZ tile layers out-of-the-box?
  3. Can someone point to an example of how to integrate a new basemap provider (e.g., Mapbox or Azure Maps) with the current DHIS2 Maps application?
  4. Is it possible to override the default basemap configuration in DHIS2 via the app settings or configuration files for self-hosted instances?

Temporary Workaround

I’ve switched to OpenStreetMap (OSM) layers (e.g., OSM Light and OSM Detailed) for now, but these lack satellite imagery or some styling options required in certain use cases.

I’d really appreciate any guidance from the community, the DHIS2 developers, or others who have dealt with this issue.

Thanks in advance for your help!

1 Like
2

Thanks a lot for your head’s up!

We will support Azure maps as a replacement for Bing maps.
A new field will be rolled out in the system settings to put your Azure key, but in the mean time both the Android app and Maps app will support using the Bing API key field to work for Azure API key too.

I cannot confirm the exact release date of the different fixes but I can tell you that significant progresses have been made so you should not have to wait too long.

You can check the following JIRA tickets to follow their respective resolution:

Thanks for sharing your temporary work around, you might also consider using external layers to configure other services you might have access to. Let me know if you need help with that.

Bruno

2 Likes
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Thanks @Bruno for the details.

I just wanted to complete the answer by confirming that the fix in the Android capture app will be included in the next patch version (3.2.1), which will be release in the coming weeks.

1 Like
4

FYI, the fix for maps-app has been released with v101.3.
Let me know if you experience any issue.

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