Real estate software has a tough job. It has to work for architects doing massing studies, planners doing site analysis, and developers crunching numbers on a deal, all on the same platform.
Giraffe used to have one fixed layout for everyone. It meant everyone was stuck working around a setup that wasn't really built for their job. The fixed layout was holding people back, and it needed to go.
Here's how we know wasn't just a hunch.
We also weigh what we find against established usability principles, like Nielsen's heuristics, so we're fixing things that genuinely help, not just reacting to noise.
In this case, the usage data was the loudest signal: constant panel switching, especially on smaller screens, backed up by a steady stream of "where do I find X" messages that pointed to the same root cause.
App locations aren't fixed anymore. Create, split, and merge panels. Drag them, resize them, dock them wherever you need. Create multiple layouts in every project for different workflows. Your setup sticks around for next time too. Plus, a redesigned top bar makes getting around easier, no matter how you've set things up.



Less time messing with your screen, more time doing the actual work. The analysis, the massing study, the client meeting.
Deep in site analysis? Put Map and Layers side by side. Meeting a client? Clear the clutter and show only what matters. Working from a laptop on-site instead of a big office monitor? The layout actually fits now, instead of you squinting to find things.
And once you build a setup you like, Giraffe remembers it. You shouldn't have to rebuild your canvas every single time you open a project. Nobody's got time for that.
This is one part of a broader look at what's changing in Giraffe 6.0. Curious about the thinking behind the changes? We put together a bigger-picture look at why we're making these changes across the whole product.
This release brings two major additions — nested block editing and a new dwelling section type — alongside a batch of fixes across blocks, apartment layouts, and space navigation.
Nested Block Editing
Edit a block definition from inside another block edit!

The block editor header now shows a breadcrumb trail (Project › parent block › current block) with unsaved-change indicators at each level, click-to-rename on the current block, and context-aware Save & Return / Save & Exit buttons (Discard only appears when there are unsaved changes).
Entering and exiting nested edits is fully undoable, saving with no changes no longer rewrites the block definition, and a failed save (e.g. block too large) shows an error and keeps the edit open.
Dwelling Usage Type
A new "dwelling" type, selectable from the Usage Type dropdown, behaves like a building section but represents individual dwellings.

Assign a usage and the section counts as one dwelling per level or a fixed count (toggle in the new Dwellings editor), with per-dwelling residents, price, and parking rates; a warning appears if no usage is assigned. Dwelling sections participate in stacking, site clipping, the Urban dashboard, and Precinct scenario tables alongside regular building sections.
Other Updates
levels property now always propagates from block instances to their contents by default.setIsolatedFeatures / clearIsolatedFeatures are now ignored (with a console warning) while a block edit is in progress, instead of corrupting the edit session.useGiraffeState('projects') stale value fix (SDK)This release focuses on stability and polish across the map, drawing tools, and workflows, with fixes for lens filtering, polygon merging, temporary layers, and parking layouts, plus a few new capabilities like always-on snapping and modify-property workflow nodes.
Drawing & Snapping
Map, Layers & Styling
Flow
SDK
updateLayerTreeVisibility for pushing layer visibility/opacity/group state changes to the map.flyTo/fitBounds now works correctly when transitioning from 2D to 3D view.Enterprise & Workspace
Reliability & Misc.
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Giraffe v5.8.0 brings a significantly expanded flow system, a rebuilt Content Library with a new feature picker, and a suite of new drawing and modelling tools. This release also includes a raft of quality-of-life improvements — from project cleanup tools and a save status indicator to a faster engine and a friendlier crash experience.
Design Library, rebuilt inside Content Library Your saved designs now live inside the Content Library. When importing from a project, you can pick exactly the features you want using a combined map and table view — marquee-select on the map, hover highlighting, column filtering, and zoom-to-extents.
Access Design Library functions from Content Library > Import from Project.

Patch drawing tool A new Patch tool lets you draw a polygon where each corner has its own height, making it easy to model sloped slabs and wedge-shaped surfaces. Edit slab/wedge type and per-corner values in the property editor; hovering a corner input highlights the corresponding vertex on the map.

Project cleanup tools A new cleanup menu in project settings lets you bulk-delete empty draw layers, unused usages, unused flows, unused blocks, and unused scenarios — each showing a live count with a confirmation prompt before deletion. You can also reset usages to Giraffe defaults.

Context layers auto-exclude the project area New projects now have "excludes project boundary" applied by default on 3D building and trees context layers.

Saved views simplified Saved views now always capture camera, layer state, and scenarios together — no more per-item toggles or "update layers from map" buttons. The editor warns before discarding unsaved changes, shows a preview of saved layers, and surfaces views shared with your team. Noisy success alerts have been removed.
3D primitives: pitch & bearing rotation Primitive rotation can now be set using pitch and bearing (elevation + azimuth) in addition to raw XYZ angles. Toggle between modes in the property editor.
Flow inputs for usages, blocks, and flows Flow input parameters now support Usage, Block, and Flow types, each with a dedicated picker in the flow controls panel.
Flow picker Selecting a flow for a feature is now a searchable dropdown. You can also create a new flow inline — including directly from the properties panel — with an option to add it to your currently selected features.
Flow defaults Flows can now carry default property values — including usage. Set them in the new Flow Defaults editor, and the on-map generative editors (envelope, subdivisions, parking, skeleton) will respect those defaults when parameters haven't been overridden.
fetchWorkspaceDetails, updateWorkspaceDetails, getProjectBundle, and createRawSection (single and bulk)evaluateFeatures stacking — output options now resolve stacking (_baseHeight, _height, _stackOrder) in one call, removing the need for a separate stackFeatures call. Polygon winding requirements are now documented.validateLensStyle helper returns a list of problems in a lens style objectfetchAppCredentials, fetchCredentials, and setUserData functionsgetLayerContents now serves features from already-loaded map layers (with optional lens filtering); project layers resolve by more ID forms; activateLensLayer throws a clear error when the layer doesn't existdisableLensSelectionDrawer option now also disables the black selection outline on the mapA maintenance release with a few handy additions and a solid round of fixes under the hood.
Boolean tool, upgraded The Boolean tool now auto-detects holes — any enclosed region inside your union gets subtracted automatically, giving you clean polygons with holes without any manual fiddling. There's also a new toggle to choose whether to keep or delete your input geometry after the operation, and it remembers your choice between sessions. Boolean now lives at the top level of the right-click menu, pre-loads your current selection, and wraps the whole operation in a single undo step. The preview no longer flickers when moving between elements.
Bake command A new top-level Bake command is available from the command bar (search "bake", "apply", "convert", or "evaluate") and right-click menu. It strips computed properties from evaluated sections and converts them to raw sections — useful when you want a clean, static snapshot of your geometry. Replaces the old inline bake that was buried in the right-click menu.
Isolate (selected only) New isolation mode that isolates exactly your selected features — no neighbours pulled in. Hit Shift + H (or Shift + /) to trigger it, or find it in the command bar.
Offset Line: Miter Limit A new Miter Limit parameter in the Line Offset form and offsetLine node prevents unbounded spikes at sharp angles. Defaults to 4× — sensible out of the box, adjustable when you need it.
Block manager improvements Block rows now show three counts: children in the definition, raw instances, and evaluated instances. The block you're actively editing is labelled "(Editing)" and others dim to make it obvious what you're working in. The Insert button disables during editing, and inserting a block while in isolation mode now correctly includes the live preview so it renders during placement.
Geocoder The search bar now reads "Search for an address, city, or POI" and shows a visible / shortcut chip so it's easier to find and use.
The Template splash modal now correctly displays again for Teams plans.
Boolean geometry engine crash recovery If the clipper boolean/offset pipeline hits a memory fault, Giraffe now recovers automatically — reinitialising a clean engine instance and showing a toast with a "Pause Engine" button so you can stop the bad input loop.
Right-click menu Right-clicking on a project boundary now uses the full boundary geometry rather than tile fragments — fixes broken context menu actions on complex MultiPolygon boundaries. "Set boundary" also appears correctly whenever it's available, not just when no boundary is being edited.
Push/pull tool Fixed a flicker issue where the tool would jump between roof and wall hits on slab edges. Wall hits now correctly win when they're closer, so accidental roof push/pulls on slab edges are gone.
Layer tree Toggling visibility on a layer with 0% opacity now also bumps opacity to 1 — so it actually appears. Also removed the red flash on the opacity drag input.
Color picker Closing the property color picker without making a change no longer creates a ghost undo entry.
Subdivision / lots Lot area labels in the mix-subdivision editor now show correct area units (m² or ft²) instead of length units. Several fixes to frontage tracking, dwelling-index selection, and boundary union tolerance.
Envelope tool Skeleton generation now simplifies near-collinear vertices, producing cleaner results and preventing edge-per-vertex on near-collinear segments. Facade mesh triangulation now picks the right projection plane for near-vertical faces, so triangles no longer drop.
Carpark editor Bay length, bay width, and aisle width fields now enforce a minimum of 0.5 (previously 0, which could produce invalid geometry).
MultiPolygon support Many tools now work correctly on MultiPolygon features — including buffer/offset, mirror, point labels, and feature import paths — where previously only the first polygon was processed.
Map / SDK popups SDK HTML and iframe popups now auto-hide when their anchor moves more than ~200px outside the map viewport. Panning a popup off-screen no longer stretches the page layout.
Iframe SDK navigateTo now uses SPA navigation when the target URL is on the same Giraffe origin — embedded apps can switch project or page without a full reload. Layer-lookup APIs now handle numeric layer IDs correctly.
Sketch / draw Clicking a halfway-vertex handle without dragging now correctly commits the inserted vertex. Picker cursor hotspot is fixed so it lines up with the actual pick point. Held keys no longer fire repeat handlers. Axis-lock indicator now reflects actual lock state correctly.
Date picker Dates now render in your locale format (e.g. dd/MM/yyyy for non-US users) instead of always showing the US format.
Screenshots The scale overlay now correctly appears in exported screenshots.
Large models with dense coplanar geometry process significantly faster — the stacking pipeline now skips expensive geometry checks when bounding boxes don't overlap, and the solid builder uses a spatial index instead of scanning every face pair. Expect snappier solves on complex projects.
Hi there,
The new self-service Teams workspace tier sits between Core and Enterprise, with seat-based pricing for up to 10 users.
Teams workspaces get access to:
Upgrade to Teams directly from Manage Account -= just click "start subscription" to get access to the new features!
Self-service (Core and Teams) users can now switch plans from the renewal screen without going through sales. Get to work faster - add and remove members as needed right from your subscription management portal.
** Note that the Core plan does not support shared project authoring. To edit projects outside your workspace, upgrade to Teams. **
The most-requested feature is here. Scenarios let you model multiple development options within a single project — no more duplicating projects just to compare options.

The Scenario panel supports everything you'd expect: create, edit, duplicate, delete, merge, reorder via drag-and-drop, search, sort, and toggle visibility. A solo mode lets you isolate a single scenario for focused review.

Assigning features to scenarios is flexible — use the property editor, right-click menu, or the drawing layer context menu. Newly drawn sections automatically inherit the active scenario, so your workflow stays uninterrupted.

A few details worth calling out:
setScenarioVisibility, getVisibleScenarios, getScenarios, renameScenario, and a visibleScenarios event for apps that need to respond to visibility changes.A new 3D editing tool for shaping buildings directly on the map. Activate it with Shift+G.

Distance tooltips display during drag so you always know how far you've moved.

Projects now support Point and MultiPolygon geometries in addition to Polygon. Practically, this means:
The Project Boundary Style Editor is also new — customize fill color, fill opacity, stroke color, stroke opacity, stroke width, and dash pattern.
Previously this was hardcoded as a grey dashed line.



Enterprise users now have a My Apps section in Manage Account for creating, editing, deleting, and sharing custom SDK apps. Apps can be configured with name, URL, logo, and JSON-based public/private config. Sharing supports both user-level and org-level access, and apps can be bundled into content packs.
Add and update your own custom skills to Giraffe AI.
Use skills to train the AI to performs specific tasks without having to type it out in the prompt each time.
AI Chat is available for customers of the AI suite. Reach out to sales if you would like access to AI Chat, Credentials, and be part of early development for AI agents.
Manage and share API tokens for 3rd parties like Claude, Regrid, Gemini, and more. Use the SDK and skills to call the API tokens in AI chat workflows within the Giraffe AI app.
Credentials are available for customers of the AI suite. Reach out to sales if you would like access to AI Chat, Credentials, and be part of early development for AI agents.
A lot here for teams building on top of Giraffe.
New SDK documentation site with dedicated pages for state, RPC functions, flow nodes, and stacked section interfaces.
New functions:
|
Function |
What it does |
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Block management |
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Flow management |
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Content pack access |
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Evaluate raw sections against the project engine |
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Prompt user to select features from the map |
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Lasso-based feature selection |
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Usage management |
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Programmatic layer visibility control |
Other SDK changes:
queryRenderedFeatures now works without a lngLat, querying the full viewport insteadhideTopBar=true



Mapbox GL JS upgraded from v3.16.0 to v3.20.0 — there are some useful new layer capabilities in this release.
A small update with a few bug fixes:
Hi there,
Artificial Intelligence is changing real estate - and Giraffe is the orchestration layer for your AI expansion.
Real estate development is undergoing a massive transformation driven by artificial intelligence, and Giraffe Technology is at the forefront of bringing this power directly into industry workflows. The Giraffe AI teaser highlights how the platform is evolving from a mapping tool into a comprehensive, AI-powered assistant for planning, feasibility, and design.
Intelligent Site Analysis and Research
Giraffe AI leverages the Giraffe SDK and integrates with advanced language models like Claude to interpret complex planning regulations. Instead of spending days on manual research, developers can now use natural language prompts to understand zoning, height limits, and heritage controls instantly.
Instant Feasibility:
In a live demonstration, the AI was asked to find nearby multi-family sales in Miami, successfully mapping eight comparable projects and retrieving specific data points like sale price per unit.
Regulatory Compliance: By integrating with services like Regrid, the AI can analyze specific parcels to determine zoning allowances, overlays, and state-based laws. It can even uncover existing development submissions, such as projects utilizing the Live Local Act in Florida.
Smarter Design and Real-Time Feedback
Perhaps the most groundbreaking feature is the AI's ability to assess design proposals against planning requirements in real-time. When a user proposed a 42-story tower, Giraffe AI immediately evaluated it for compliance, noting that while the height was permissible under local acts, the proposal required 40% affordable housing to meet standards.
Custom Workflows and App Development
Beyond general analysis, Giraffe allows firms to build bespoke applications that codify their unique intellectual property.
Pipeline Scraping:
Build apps to scrape development pipeline projects, visualizing them on the map to understand market activity.
Giraffe AI aims to eliminate manual research, speed up feasibility studies, and enable smarter development decisions by integrating complex compliance data directly into the design process.