Version 2.7¶

Version 2.7 has a number of performance and memory reduction improvements and Pro Pack updates. It also contains the hooks to connect the new Store Pages add-on package. In addition the following notable changes and updates have been made:

Store Pages¶

Store Pages is a new premium add-on pack that works in conjunction with the v2.7 release. It has a separate license from the Pro Pack. Store Pages are individual pages that represent the locations in your Store Locator Plus database. The pages are built with data from the data you've already entered. For more details visit the Store Pages add-on page.

Pro Pack¶

Pro Pack is a premium add-on pack that provides a number of additional settings and features beyond the free plugin.

Geocode Latitude/Longitude Editing¶

This is a paid upgrade feature.

Some locations are not geocoded properly from Google. You can now edit the resulting latitude/longitude via the Manage_Locations screen. Future plans include a map-based editor. In the meantime you can use a service like iTouchMap to get the latitude/longitude of any point.

Reports Improved¶

Heavy traffic sites would time out when running the reports on their searches. A database update has made reporting over 100x faster on larger sites. If you were experiencing a timeout when running reports this should resolve the problem.

Free Edition¶

These updates are available for all Store Locator Plus users.

Name Change¶

The name has been changed on the plugin page to help improve our search results ranking on the WordPress Extensions Directory. The listing name is now "Google Maps via Store Locator Plus". This is purely a cosmetic change and will not impact existing installations other than changing some labels in the plugin listings on your admin panel.

Empty Address Search¶

Prior to version 2.7, if the address field was left blank a "Not Found" notice was presented to the user. As of Version 2.7 the search will automatically base the search at the current map center as the home address.

One of the advantages of this mode is that you can now hide the address input field. For Pro Pack users this means you can now have things like 100% tag-driven searches like those on our Eat Charleston demo site.

Only Load CSS When Needed¶

The CSS files are now only loaded when a shortcode appears on a page, improving overall performance on your site, even for pages not using Store Locator Plus.

Custom Themes Removed¶

In conjunction with the change above, the ability to add custom CSS files has been removed. You will need to purchase the Pro Pack and follow the instructions for creating and managing custom themes.

Location Search Performance Improved¶

Data indexes have been added to improve the search time when looking up locations. The change will be minimal compared to the lag time experienced in Google lookups, but on sites returning more than a dozen results this can shave seconds off every search.

Editing Location Improvement¶

A patch has been made when editing locations. In all prior versions a bug was causing the address to be re-geocoded every time you made an edit. With the new version the location is only re-geocoded if you change the address fields, not the other data fields.

v3.0¶

This is the "Google Maps API V3.0" release. The most significant update is the change from Google Maps API v2.0 to Google Maps API v3.0.

Google Maps API v3¶

There are several advantages to v3 of the API such as new map features and finer control over the map interface. V3 of the API also allows you to make up to 2500 requests daily without an API key active (though indications are this will change).

Version 2 of the Google Maps API is expected to be completely offline within the next 12-15 months, updating to version 3 will allow Store Locator Plus users to continue using our product without interruption.

Current State¶

Work was started on this branch but Google Maps API v3 is a MAJOR disruption to the system. The entire JavaScript interface needs to be re-written. It is 80% done after 6+ hours and still needs work.

THIS IS GOING TO NEED THOROUGH TESTING BEFORE RELEASE.

See the core submodule google_api_v3 branch.