Implemented Google Maps API integration for Showcase Items (Category Pages)

[DerTobi75]

Hi,

will there be also a embedet Google Map for Category Pages, ie. show all items on a map from a certain category?

Best regards.

Tobi

 

[Joe Link]

Any mapping additions or improvements are valuable in my application. Watching this

 

[electrogypsy]

Agreed, I would definitely like to see something like this in the future ☺

 

[Bob]

This functionality is currently being tested in RMS (Review Management System) and will be implemented in Showcase at some point. Those of you that have an EA license which gives you access to my private development site can read more information about this in the RMS Forums (and can see it in action via the RMS Demo).

Update: This has been implemented in Showcase 2.9.0 Beta 1.

 

[Bob]

A few notes on this.

This functionality depends on multiple Google Maps APIs.

The Embed API is required for Individual Maps on Showcase Item pages. This functionality has been in Showcase for a few years now.

The JavaScript API is required for the Category Map itself.

The Geocoding API is used by the Item DataWriter to retrieve precise GeoCode data that is used by the JavaScript API for plotting points on the Map.

NOTE: Both the JavaScript API and Geocoding API are METERED APIs. If you have a busy site, you may need to be prepared to get premium API keys from Google (or setup a payment plan to cover usage beyond the free limits).



This is a PER CATEGORY Feature. There are NO Global Options (besides the API Keys). All settings that control the Map on a specific Category Page are set in the Category Management for EACH INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY. Below is a screen shot of the available options.



Here is an example of what a Category Map looks like along with what the Marker Info Window looks like when all the options are enabled for it.

NOTE: Map markers respect any FILTERS that are being applied, so if you FILTER by Featured, then only map markers for Items that are "featured" will be displayed on the Map.

 

[electrogypsy]

@Bob this is really great, thank you for including this feature. is it possible to show a map with locations from all categories on the home page? could i copy the template code from the category maps and change it to include all categories and embed that on the index/home page for showcase? thanks!

 

[Bob]

is it possible to show a map with locations from all categories on the home page?

In theory, it would be possible to development functionality similar to the Category Maps for SC Home (non modular layout), however, it would require quite a bit of programming.

could i copy the template code from the category maps and change it to include all categories and embed that on the index/home page for showcase? thanks!

No. Templates don't FETCH content, they display fetched content. Most of what needs to be done to do something like this is PHP programming.

 

[electrogypsy]

ah, gotcha. well thank you for the quick answer! would it be reasonable to put this in as a feature request? i read somewhere that you're not really doing any more feature upgrades for the xf 1.x addons and moving on to developing these addons for xf 2.

 

[Bob]

Pretty much any and all suggestions at this point would only be considered for XF2 versions of my addons.

If you plan on staying on XF1 for awhile (like a couple years or more), then I'd pursue custom development.

 

[electrogypsy]

Pretty much any and all suggestions at this point would only be considered for XF2 versions of my addons.

If you plan on staying on XF1 for awhile (like a couple years or more), then I'd pursue custom development.

nah, im just waiting to make the move to xf2 when AMS/showcase becomes available for it

 

[Bob]

nah, im just waiting to make the move to xf2 when AMS/showcase becomes available for it

AMS 2.0 should be available to EA license holders within the next month or 2. Im just working on the last 2 major features (pages and series) and then its beta testing time.