Google API Key Changes Coming June 11 2018

Store Locator Plus for WordPress requires the user of the plug-in to obtain their own Google Map API key as described in our Getting Started Guide.  

Google has revamped its Google Maps API developer platform. With the changes to the way Google is handling the API keys, this may be a good time to rethink the overall management of your location services.  The MySLP SaaS platform takes care of all that for you.  You only need  to  embed the JavaScript code that MySLP provides when you sign up.

Map attributes have been extended in 4.9.7

map attributes - a global map with markers

Store Locator Plus 4.9.7 “map attributes” update was released today for our WordPress users. The update is still in testing for MySLP users — some of the patches in this release are a direct result of the testing before integrating into our managed service. The updated release will be on the MySLP platform soon but will have limited impact on those users.

More shortcode map attributes for WordPress users

The [slplus] processor in the core plugin has been updated to allow more map attributes to be set.  This update allows ALL options that have been migrated to the new Smart Options architecture (80% of all SLP settings at this point) to be used as an attribute. This greatly improves the ability to create custom maps on a per-page basis with settings that vary from the general “system wide” settings that come from the Store Locator Plus > Settings tab.

You can find the current list of supported attributes here:
https://docs.storelocatorplus.com/blog/slplus-shortcode-options/

Location position and accuracy

Have you ever checked the accuracy of your location marker compared to where it appears on the widely used google maps application?  If you do,  you may notice that the latitude and longitude and position of your marker is not exactly the same as where it appears in the Google Map.

The exact location marker on your map may be slightly off by a few feet or meters from the actual location shown in the Google Maps App. Both are using Geocoding  (the process of converting addresses into geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude), which you can use to place markers on a map, or position the map, so why the difference?