Buying, downloading, and updating a map image

Generating map images is free. Keeping one at full resolution is a one-time payment. This page covers what you pay, what you get, the credit you earn, and what happens when the course changes afterwards.

It applies to both kinds — high detail course maps and decorative maps.

The preview is free

Every map you generate is a free preview: watermarked, and at a smaller size than the real file. It’s there so you can judge the thing before paying for it — check the street names are readable, check the title isn’t sitting on the course, check you picked the right shape.

Make as many previews as you like. Different shapes, different palettes, different marker choices — none of them costs anything.

What it costs

• High detail course map — $15
• Decorative map — $9

One payment, no subscription, and nothing recurring. Payment is handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card details.

You’re buying that map of that course. Click Unlock full size on the map’s page and you’ll come back to it unlocked.

What unlocking gives you

• The watermark comes off.
• You get the full-resolution, print-ready file. The Print details card on the map’s page tells you the exact dimensions and how big it prints at 300 and 150 dpi.
• Download it as many times as you want. Purchased files never expire.
• Editing stays free, forever. Click Edit to change the colors, the shape, the markers, the lettering — anything on the generate form — and regenerate as often as you like. It replaces the same map, so the purchase carries over.

The one thing worth knowing: a purchase covers one map. If you make a second, separate map of the same course, that’s a second purchase. In most cases you don’t need one — editing the map you already own does the same job for free.

You earn the same amount as subscription credit

Every map purchase earns you credit toward a HelloDrifter subscription equal to what you paid. Buy a $15 high detail map and you have $15 of credit.

• It applies whether you subscribe now or later — you don’t need a plan when you buy.
• It never expires, and there’s no cap on how much you can build up.
• It’s applied automatically to your next subscription bill. You don’t enter a code.

If you’re already a subscriber, the map’s page tells you which plan the credit lands on and when. If you’re not, your balance appears on the pricing page. In effect, a map you buy on the way to subscribing costs you nothing extra.

A map is a snapshot

A map image shows your course as it stood when you generated it. It doesn’t quietly redraw itself when you edit the course later — which is the point, because a permit office holds a copy of the map you sent them.

So each time you open a map, we compare its snapshot against the course as it now stands, and tell you where you are. The map’s page says one of:

• Matches the course as it now stands. Nothing to do.
• Course data has changed. Same roads, but details moved — a renamed aid station, a new point of interest. Regenerate to pick them up.
• The course has changed. The route was edited, but 80% or more of it still overlaps this map. It’s a revision of the same course.
• This map shows a different course. Under 80% overlap. It’s effectively a different course now.

You’ll see the percentage, so it’s never a guess.

What that means for what you pay

The same 80% line decides it. If your course is still substantially the course you bought — 80% or more — regenerating is free, however many times you do it. Move a turn, extend an aid-station loop, fix a stretch that was mapped wrong: all covered.

Under 80%, it’s a different course, and a map of it is a new purchase. The comparison is always against the course you originally paid for, not against the last version you regenerated — so a course that drifts a little at a time never quietly walks out of what you bought.

And if that isn’t fair in your case

Courses change at the last minute, and a percentage can’t judge every situation. There’s a “Tell us and we’ll make it right” link on every map’s page. Use it — a person reads those.

Deleting and archiving

How a map goes away depends on whether you paid for it:

• A preview you haven’t bought is deleted permanently, after a confirmation.
• A map you’ve bought is archived instead — it moves to the Archived tab, and Restore brings it back with the purchase intact. You can’t lose a map you paid for by tidying up.

Either way, deleting a map image never touches the underlying race or route on HelloDrifter.

Still not right?

If a map came out wrong, the course changed the week before race day, or you’re not sure which kind you need, contact us. We’re a small team and we’d rather fix it than have you buy twice.