Scheduled Imports Included in Locator Updates

The July release of Store Locator Plus™ has been completed and includes a number of updates such as the scheduled imports patch for our Professional and Enterprise level users.   We’ve included a number of changes in the location processing engine as well that helps improve browser memory consumption as well as performance for sites with larger lists of locations.    These updates are already online for our MySLP users.

You’ll find similar patches and updates in our WordPress plugin version 4.9.17.

Scheduled imports patch

This patch addresses and issue where the import scheduling form was not being processed, preventing changes to the import file location, interval, or time at which the import runs.    New sites could not schedule imports and had to import location CSV files “by hand”.  The patch addresses the issue.

Schedule imports are provided at theProfessional and Enterprise levels and are part of the WordPress Power add on.

Google Maps API Prices Increase 9,000%

How much did the Google Maps API prices increase?  The  true cost is hidden for many users of the ubiquitous Google Maps API as Google is weaning you onto a potential 9,000% price increase by giving everyone a $200 per-month credit towards API billing through September 2018.   For many API users the true sticker shock will come when that $200 credit expires.

Google Maps API Prices Increase by 9,500% for our account in September.

Our fully managed locator service has already seen the impact.   When the $200 credit expires our expenses will increase 9,570%

Up until July 2018 most users were able to get by with no official Google API key at all.   Those that started a site in the past year needed an API key but likely fell under the “free usage limits” and never saw a bill; even if they enabled the older “Pay-As-You-Go” system under Google.

Load Locations From WordPress Sites

You can now load locations from WordPress sites directly into Store Locator Plus.   This new feature makes it easier to migrate from self-managed WordPress plugins to our fully managed My Store Locator Plus service.

This is the first iteration and only provides fundamental location loading features.

The current version does not import category information and as such will not retain location:category associates.    It will import contact fields, if you are using that with a Power add on, or feature and rank fields if you use the Experience add on.

The current version of the location loader will not check if locations already exist in your location list; as such it can create duplicate entries.    It can also stall if the site that is being loaded from is slow to respond; it is important to check that your loaded list of locations matches the source site when the loading process is complete.

The location loader only supports loading locations from WordPress sites running the WordPress Store Locator Plus plugin.   If you are using a locator or directory plugin other than Store Locator Plus, please contact us to discuss the possibility of beta testing the forthcoming “MySLP Location Connector” plugin.

Use this to migrate to MySLP

With MySLP, we worry about software updates and Google keys.  You manage your business.