[Amy LeForge]

I have a particularly…decisive client who wants the entries in cMap to show how far the entry is from her place of business. In addition, she wants to give customers driving directions to each entry.

Is this even possible?

Thanks

Amy

[Steven Zahm]

@ Amy

RE: show how far the entry is from her place of business

Sorry, no, there is not a feature like this in Connections. This would be rather niche, if you are interested, perhaps a custom addon could be developed for you which would add this feature.

RE: give customers driving directions to each entry

YOu may have, or not, noticed that the mapping features in Connections have been receiving a lot of work in the past few months which have enabled lots of little new features such as lazy loading maps, displaying a map pin for each address added to and entry and popups on the map pins which when clicked show the address.

The latter item, the pin popups, I do plan on adding a link to get directions. I just not have had the opportunity to do so at the moment. Would that placement suffice?

[Amy LeForge]

How much would you charge for the distance add-on? And do you have a timeline in mind for the pop-up and directions? I have to placate this client, so this decision is important for me. I found a php script that at least has the directions, so if I have to I’ll move that client (and the 250+ entries!!) to that. :) No pressure on you, just trying to choose the best option.

Thanks!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Amy

RE: How much would you charge for the distance add-on?

I would need more details on functionality and display (very rough/quick mockups are the best).

RE: do you have a timeline in mind for the pop-up and directions?

Probably a few hours or so. It’ll be a simple button (assuming the theme has styles for buttons [most do]) displayed beneath the address in the map pin popup. It opens a new window displaying the Google Maps directions page where the user can enter their start address and get driving directions.

[Amy LeForge]

So awesome! Love the popup. Thank you!

Re: the distance add-on.

I’m attaching a pic from the client that may be instructive. You can ignore most of the requests because I have addressed them. They own a bed & breakfast, so they want guests to be able to see how far a particular recommended attraction is from their address.

Re: now I have a new question

Is it possible to set the map to open up at a particular distance or zoom level? I kept trying to click on the main marker that was showing up for the B&B and there was no popup so I thought it wasn’t working. After a bit of playing I realized that I just wasn’t zoomed in enough to see the other locations.

[Amy LeForge]

Oh shoot. Attachment. sorry

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[Steven Zahm]

@ Amy

RE: they want guests to be able to see how far a particular recommended attraction is from their address.

So, a simple custom text field where they can input the number of minutes aways would suffice?

RE: Is it possible to set the map to open up at a particular distance or zoom level

Can you share a link to the entry with the issue? The map auto zooms to show the pin(s) centered in the map. The description of what you are experiencing does not sound correct.

[Amy LeForge]

Re: a simple text field

I’m thinking no. The client wants to have the distance calculated from their location to each point. If that’s not possible, then yes we’ll do a custom text field.

However. She also wants to be able to sort by that distance so that people can evaluate what their choices are.

Re: zoom level

If I click on an entry to show the map, (such as here: http://earnestenterprisesllc.com/prairieside-dining-close/) the map shows a red pin for the location that is approximately correct. But clicking on that red pin yields nothing. The only way to get the popup is to zoom in to find gold pins (which usually aren’t exactly the red pin but close) and click on that. Anyone seeing the red pin won’t know that there is a gold pin when you zoom unless they happen to zoom. Clicking on the red pin looks like nothing words.

If I have a wrong setting and can fix this, that’d be awesome.

Thanks

Amy

[Steven Zahm]

RE: I’m thinking no. The client wants to have the distance calculated from their location to each point. If that’s not possible, then yes we’ll do a custom text field.

Well, it is indeed possible, but would take much more time to code up, and so it will be more expensive.

A simple custom text field is quick and cheap. The reason I thought that would work because the distance between the two points will not change unless one of the businesses actually move locations. And if that happens the entry would need updated to the new address anyway, so you would just update the distance when updating the address.

RE: zoom level

Oh, I see … those are Google automagically inserted POI/s. Connections does not add or have any control over those pins or their popups.

Actually, the installed version of Connections is out of date. The pop ups on the maps pins I am referring to would come from the red (now blue) pin and have the address and a directions button.

Hope this helps!

[Amy LeForge]

Okay. Updated the software and WOW!!! Love it. I have 2 copies of Connections and didn’t realize that that one was behind a bit on updates. Thank you so much, it’s gorgeous.

One more question: If I do the custom text box, can I sort the entries by that field? And can I add the alpha index up top if I sort by that field? I have it sorted by alpha now within the entries, and I understand I cannot use the index in that case.

Okay, that was two questions. Sorry. :)

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