Pro v2.8.1 with geocoding providers usability improvements and bugfixes is available

Posted on 04 November, 2016

Category:

Pro-Version Releases
Attention: this is not the changelog for the latest stable version 4.28 (see related release notes)

With v2.8.1 we fixed several bugs and also optimized the usability of the new geocoding provider feature.

Please also have a look at our new blog post about our new partnership with Mapzen – our the new default geocoding provider for Maps Marker Pro.

An update to the latest version is – as always – highly recommended. For more details about this release please see below.


Let us know what you think about this new release by submitting a review or leaving a comment below!

If you want to keep up to date with the latest Maps Marker Pro development, please follow @MapsMarker on twitter (= most current updates), on FacebookGoogle+ or subscribe to news via RSS or via RSS/email.

We would also like to invite you to join our affiliate program which offers commissions up to 50%. If you are interested in becoming a reseller, please visit https://www.mapsmarker.com/reseller

uncle-sam-mmp
We want YOU for Maps Marker Pro!
Join our team as a freelance developer and apply now!
https://www.mapsmarker.com/join-the-team


Now let´s get to the highlights of pro v2.8.1:

geocoding provider usability optimizations and bugfixes

  • do not clear (existing) geocoding search results if (no more additional) results are found anymore
  • show 10 instead of 5 geocoding search results for Mapzen, Algolia and Photon@MapsMarker
  • do not switch to alternative geocoding provider if Google Geocoding returns no results
  • show detailed error message if MapQuest Geocoding failed 
  • loading indicator for geocoding search was not shown on marker edit pages  
  • PHP warnings if Photon@MapsMarker for APIs or importer is used and an empty address is given 

new compatibility setting “maxZoom compatibility mode”

With this release we introduced a new compatibility setting which should help fix issues with incompatible themes, resulting in markers not displaying properly on (Google) basemaps. You finde this new settings at Settings / Misc / Compatibility Settings:

maxzoom-compat-setting

https is now also required on iOS/Safari 10+ for geolocation to work properly

Please be aware that since Apple release iOS 10, https for your website is now also required on Safari 10+ if you want to offer the geolocation feature to your visitors. See this post for more details.

Other changes and optimizations

  • removed MemCached support for importer and Stiphle rate limiting due to compatibility issues reported
  • auto-select marker/layername, mapwidth, mapheight & zoom input values on backend on input focus 

Other bugfixes

  • bulk actions on “list all markers” and “list all layers” page could be broken since v2.8 (thx reeser!)
  • “add marker link” for layer center icon was broken after geocoding search result was selected on layer pages
  • fatal error on activation if another plugin also utilizes WP_Session_Utils-class (thx Jan-Willem!)
  • unneeded checked=”checked” output on import pages on backend 
  • openpopup-links in list of markers after search did not work since v2.8 (thx Takeo!)
  • Maps Marker Pro could not be activated on PHP 5.2 installations (thx Clive!)

Known issues

Geolocation feature does not work anymore with Google Chrome 50+ unless your site is securely accessible via https

With Chrome 50 (and Safari 10) significant changes to the geolocation support were introduced by the related browser vendors: all applications requesting the current position of the user (not just for Maps Marker Pro´s geolocation feature) are only allowed anymore to retrieve the current position of the user if the site is setup to be delivered securely via https – users will see the following or a similar warning instead:

geolocation-error-info

See more details about this decision by Google at https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/04/geolocation-on-secure-contexts-only. Geolocation will still work on non-https sites if the users access the site via alternative browsers like Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer – anyway it could be likely that those browsers will also add a similar security restriction in the future.

Update November 2016: since iOS 10 also Safari 10+ now requires https to support geolocation. The implementation is even more strict than with Google Chrome – geolocation will not work for example if there are mixed-content warnings on your site.

So if you need the Maps Marker Pro geolocation featue on your site, it is highly recommended to migrate your site to https. Some hosters already provide free https certificates from letsencrypt.org for example. For configurations needed within your WordPress site in order to configure it to support https, please have a look at tutorials like https://css-tricks.com/moving-to-https-on-wordpress/.

As https has more advantages for your site than just geolocation working again with Google Chrome 50+ and Safari 10+ (like securing the data integrity, sender authentication and user privacy as well as higher Google ranking as https is used as ranking signal), we strongly advise to switch your site to https only if you haven´t done so yet.

If you switched your site to https and still get a geolocation error (like “Geolocation error: user denied geolocation”), please check your device´s location settings if it is allowed for apps/web sites to retrieve the geolocation.

Translations updates

Thanks to many motivated contributors, this release includes the following updated translations:

If you want to contribute to translations (new Hindi translators would be appreciated!), please visit https://translate.mapsmarker.com/projects/lmm for more information.

Please note that translators are also compensated for their contribution – for example if a translation is finished less than 50%, the translator receives a free 25 licenses pack worth €249 as a compensation for completing the translation to 100%.

Outlook – plans for the next releases

Please understand that we are not able to promise any release dates for new features. The roadmap for major new features gives you an idea where Maps Marker Pro is heading – anyway we just want to keep the flexibility to add optimizations and bugfixes with rather unplanned minor releases resulting mostly from users feedback.

Please subscribe to this blog (via RSS or Email) or follow @MapsMarker on twitter (= most current updates) if you want to stay up to date with the latest development news.

Full changelog

blog post about our new partnership with Mapzen – the new default geocoding provider for Maps Marker Pro 
new compatibility setting “maxZoom compatibility mode” for themes conflicts where markers on (Google) maps are not displayed properly
https is now also required on iOS/Safari 10+ for geolocation to work properly (details
do not clear (existing) geocoding search results if (no more additional) results are found anymore
show 10 instead of 5 geocoding search results for Mapzen, Algolia and Photon@MapsMarker
do not switch to alternative geocoding provider if Google Geocoding returns no results
removed MemCached support for importer and Stiphle rate limiting due to compatibility issues reported 
auto-select marker/layername, mapwidth, mapheight & zoom input values on backend on input focus 
show detailed error message if MapQuest Geocoding failed 
bulk actions on “list all markers” and “list all layers” page could be broken since v2.8 (thx reeser!)
“add marker link” for layer center icon was broken after geocoding search result was selected on layer pages 
fatal error on activation if another plugin also utilizes WP_Session_Utils-class (thx Jan-Willem!)
PHP warnings if Photon@MapsMarker for APIs or importer is used and an empty address is given 
unneeded checked=”checked” output on import pages on backend 
openpopup-links in list of markers after search did not work since v2.8 (thx Takeo!)
loading indicator for geocoding search was not shown on marker edit pages 
Maps Marker Pro could not be activated on PHP 5.2 installations (thx Clive!)
Geolocation feature does not work anymore with Google Chrome 50+ & iOS/Safari 10+ unless your site is securely accessible via https (details)
Translation updates
In case you want to help with translations, please visit the web-based translation plattform
updated German translation
updated Russian translation thanks to Ekaterina Golubina (supported by Teplitsa of Social Technologies – http://te-st.ru) and Vyacheslav Strenadko, http://slavblog.ru 

show all available changelogs

How to download / update

The easiest way to update is to use the WordPress update process: login with an user who has admin privileges, navigate to Dashboard / Updates, select plugins to update and press the button “Update Plugins”. The pro plugin checks every 24 hours if a new version is available. You can also manually trigger the update check by going to Plugins and clicking on the link “Manually check for updates” next to “Maps Marker Pro”:

manual-update-check

If you do not see the link “Check for updates” and are using a version below 1.7, please update manually once by downloading the current package from https://www.mapsmarker.com/download-pro and overwritting the existing plugin files on your server via FTP. This might be needed on several hosts, which use outdated SSL libraries, which prevent Maps Marker Pro from making a secure connection to retrieve the update package from mapsmarker.com. Pro v1.7 includes a workaround for those kind of servers and the following updates should work again as usual. If you are affected and need help, please open a support ticket.

How to verify the integrity of the plugin package

SHA-256 hash value:

B6972C3D29274A917157CC8A7D177EC7F521C806AFF40937D781C2601E314E10

Click here for a tutorial on how to verify the integrity of the plugin package (recommended if the plugin package for a new installation was not downloaded from https://www.mapsmarker.com – verification is not needed though if the automatic update process is used)

Additional update notes for beta tester

No additional actions on plugin update from beta to final version are required.