fitzroyalty

Web mapping services provider Mapufacture looks like it has a promising future as location based content grows in popularity. Mapufacture’s GeoRSS standard is endorsed by Outside.In, which aggregates and syndicates geotagged content. It will become more important for bloggers to geotag their content to maximise its distribution and readership, and GeoRSS is a fantastic addition to location based blogs.

Having tested various WordPress mapping plugins, I think Mapufacture’s WordPress mapping plugin GeoPress is the most sophisticated in terms of functionality and also the most useful and straightforward to implement. GeoPress allows bloggers to geotag posts, publish maps of posts and distribute geotagged content via GeoRSS enabled RSS and Atom feeds.

I have spent a lot of time learning about using GeoPress and customising its functions, and I thought it would be useful to share what I have learned. Its documentation is better than many plugins but it could be improved, particularly in providing step by step instructions for non coders (like me).

New tools like automatic upgrades allow non coders to build and maintain complex sites with the WordPress CMS, but many plugin creators continue to assume their users are developers, not publishers. This needs to change and it will as badly documented plugins remain unused by less technically minded users. Non technical publishers may already be the majority of WordPress users.

Start with a current install of Wordpress. The following has been tested on Wordpress 2.5.1 and 2.6 and Geopress 2.4.3.

How to map multiple posts on one map

The Geopress instructions make it easy to add a map of a single location to a single post in your blog. But what if you want to map multiple posts on one map? You can also display a map in the sidebar and / or on a static page that displays all your posts by altering GeoPress (this gives it the same functionality as the GeoMashup plugin).

1. Download, install and activate a widget enabled theme
2. Download, install and activate a widget to display php code in the sidebar
3. Download, install and activate GeoPress, then geotag some posts
   
4. Edit geopress.php at lines 285-288 by replacing all 3 instances of “name” with “coord”. In other words, find and delete this:

   if($locations[$loc->name] == null) {
   $locations[$loc->name] = array();
   }
   array_push($locations[$loc->name], $loc);

   and replace it with this:
   

   if($locations[$loc->coord] == null) {
   $locations[$loc->coord] = array();
   }
   array_push($locations[$loc->coord], $loc);
   

5. Refresh your blog in your browser and see the posts appear on the map

To make a small map appear in your sidebar

This displays all your geotagged posts, 1 flag per post.

Complete the above steps 1-5, then:

1. Add a php widget instance to your sidebar
2. Add the following code to the widget:

   <?php if (have_posts()) :
   echo geopress_map(width, height);
   endif; ?>
   

3. Replace “width” and height” with numbers to determine the width and height of the map to suit your sidebar (hint - a sidebar is often 200 or 250 pixels wide. 300 or 400 are good heights to try)
4. Save changes in the widget admin page
5. Refresh your blog in your browser and see the posts appear on the map

To make a large map appear in a static page

This displays all your geotagged posts 1 flag per post. Complete the above steps 1-5, then:

1. Create a new page and insert the following code in the page:

   INSERT_GEOPRESS_MAP(height,width)

2. Replace “height” and “width” with numbers to suit your blog (many themes have pages that are 450 or 500 pixels wide. 500 or 600 are good heights to try)
3. Save and publish the page
4. Refresh your blog in your browser and see the posts appear on the map

Map your posts on an external Google map

GeoPress adds geo data to your RSS2 and Atom feeds. By adding your geotagged feed to a Google map you can share your posts with invited collaborators or the public. Try this with different feed types, as they may produce different results.

1. Copy the URL of your RSS2 or Atom feed
2. Paste the URL into the search bar of a Google map and hit search. The posts should be displayed in the map

WordPress 2.6+ and revisions

If you’re using Wordpress 2.6 and have not disabled revisions, you need to make a choice between disabling revisions or patching GeoPress so it does not display a link to every revision of a post (each revision gets a unique post ID and GeoPress uses post IDs).

It’s best to disable revisions before installing GeoPress. If you already have GeoPress installed and are upgrading to WordPress 2.6, and / or want to keep revisions, you need to patch GeoPress so it does not display revisions.

To find the fix for this, I posted a request on Mapufacture’s Get Satisfaction support page and quickly got a solution, which is to add a new line of code to the plugin that makes it only display published posts on maps (revisions are not defined as separate published posts, so this ensures that revisions are not displayed).

Patching GeoPress so it does not display revisions

Insert the following line into geopress.php under the “get_location_posts” function (line 236) and under the “get_locations” function as well (line 262):

$sql .= " AND $wpdb->posts.post_status = 'publish'";

Conclusion

With these alterations and improvements, every WordPress blog can make the most of GeoPress’ impressive features. I’d like to thank Andrew Turner from Mapufacture for his patience and expertise in providing support to me by email, and to the contributers at Mapufacture’s Get Satisfaction support page.

Posts you may find relevant and interesting

• Wordpress plugins for Mozilla Geode and Google Gears Geolocation would enable location awareness, 17 November 2008
• mapping Fitzroy, 28 May 2008
• a social media guide for small business, 7 May 2008
• Fitzroyalty remixed, 24 October 2007
• the current status of hyperlocal media in Australia, 8 August 2008

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 12:25 am and is filed under Fitzroyalty, geoweb, hyperlocal, information technology.
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