Free v3.11 with support for keyless geocoding providers & more is available

Posted on 28 October, 2016

Category:

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

After more than 4 months of development we are happy to announce the availability of Maps Marker Pro v2.8 and Leaflet Maps Marker v3.11. This release marks an important milestone, as it adds support for keyless geocoding providers – allowing you and your clients to use our plugins without any additional registration or API key.

To keep up with this new keyless approach for basemaps too, we also changed Google basemaps support for new installations. Google Maps support is now disabled by default (for new installations) as Google API keys for basemaps are mandatory since June 2016.

In order to offer more choice for our users, we also added new new keyless basemaps from Stamen maps and OpenStreetMap variant support – allowing your to customise your maps even better.

We also did a usability review (thx Wieland!) and as a result reorganized the settings area completely as well as adding many subtle changes, making it easier especially for unexperienced users to create new maps.

Pro v2.8 has also been released today with the following additional highlights – upgrade today for more features and optimizations:

  • improved performance on backend for OpenStreetMap-based maps by support for conditional & deferred Google Maps API loading
  • add pagination for “list all layers” page on backend
  • new filter mmp_before_setview which allowing to utilize the map load-event

An update to the latest version is – as always – highly recommended.


Let me know what you think about this new release by submitting a review!

If you want to keep up to date with the latest Maps Marker 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

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Now let´s get to the highlights of pro v3.11:

support for keyless geocoding providers

The major highlight of this release is the support for new geocoding providers. Geocoding is the process of transforming a description of a location – like an address, name or place – to a location on the earth’s surface. Maps Marker Pro allows you to choose from different geocoding providers dynamically on marker and layer edit pages:

geocoding-selection

The following keyless geocoding providers can be used out of the box:

The following geocoding provider require a mandatory API key registration:

For a comparison of all currently available geocoding provider please see the following table:

Name + setup tutorialAPI key needed?Rate limits
LocationIQ Geocoding (Default for new installations)NoKeyless geocoding with 1,000 requests/day/IP, 2 requests/second; with personalized free API key up to 5.000 requests/day/IP - larger plans available on demand - details here
TomTom Geocoding Yes2.500 requests/day, 5 requests/minute; details about larger plans at https://developer.tomtom.com/store/maps-api
Google GeocodingYesminimum billing per month applies (starting from 11th June 2018 - click here for details)
MapQuest GeocodingYes15.000 transactions/month and a maximum of 10 requests/second; higher quotas are available
Algolia Places (discontinued)Non/a

In order to get more targeted search results, each provider offers different options to optimize its results (e.g. by setting a local focus point, restricting the results to a country) – please click here for a related tutorial.

If a provider is unavailable or your rate limit is reached, the fallback geocoding provider chosen in settings is automatically used:

geocoding-fallback

add support OpenStreetMap variants

OpenStreetMap now has a dedicated basemap settings section at Settings / Basemaps / OpenStreetMap and allows you to choose the OpenStreetMap variant to use:

help-osm-variants

The chosen variant will be applied to all maps with OpenStreetMap as basemap.

add support for Stamen basemaps terrain & toner

For over a decade, Stamen has been exploring cartography with their clients and in research. Their map tiles are made available as part of the CityTracking project, funded by the Knight Foundation, in which Stamen is building web services and open source tools to display public data in easy-to-understand, highly visual ways.

With v2.8 the following Stamen basemaps can be used out-of-the-box for your maps, without any additional registration. The related settings can be found at Settings / Basemaps / Stamen Maps.

Stamen Toner variants:

help-stamen-toner

Stamen Terrain variants:

help-stamen-terrain

Stamen Watercolor:

help-stamen-watercolor

add support for MapQuest API key and (Hybrid) basemap

MapQuest basemaps were broken since July 11th 2016, as MapQuest requires a mandatory API key since. With this release you can now use MapQuest again as basemap – a tutorial on how to register a MapQuest API key can be found here.

If MapQuest is set as basemaps for some of your maps and no API key has been given yet, those maps will now automatically switch to OpenStreetMap as basemap until an API key is not set. In addition, an info about the affected maps will be shown on backend – allowing you to either register an API key or change the basemap of the affected maps manually.

In addition, we also added support for MapQuest Hybrid basemap, which can now be selected after a mandatory API key was set:

help-mapquest-tiles

new default custom basemaps and overlays

With this release we also changed the default custom basemaps 1-3 and custom overlays :

Please be aware that those new custom basemaps are available by default for new installations only, as we do not want to overwrite any custom settings here!

If you upgraded from an older version to this release and want to use those basemaps too, either reset the settings in the appropriate settings section or clear all related settings fields at Settings / Basemaps / Custom basemap 1-3 or at Settings / Overlays / Custom Overlay 1-4 which results in default settings being used after pressing the save button.

“Google Maps JavaScript API” now opt-in for new installations

In order to support our new “keyless out-of-the-box approach”, the “Google Maps JavaScript API” has also been disabled for new installations due to mandatory API key needed for displaying Google basemaps since June 2016.

So if you want to use Google basemaps for your maps, you need to first register an API key and enable the “Google Maps Javascript API” – a tutorial can be found here.

performance improvements on backend

With this release, we also looked for ways to improve the performance of our plugin. The following improvements potentials were identified and implemented with this release:

  • improved performance of marker icons loading on marker edit & tools page (by eliminating extra http requests by using base64 image encoding instead)

usability improvements

We did a comprehensive usability review together with Wieland from http://user-experience.wien/ and as a result the following usability optimizations were added – focusing on making our plugin easier to understand, especially for new users:

  • completely reorganized settings page (better structuring & grouping of related settings)
  • reorder menu items and collapse links to advanced features by default for better focus
  • add info texts about marker/layer concept to better assist new users
  • hide advanced layer edit functions and make them visible on click only (to better assist new users) 
  • updated default error tile image which provides possible explanations for loading issues and also suggests solutions 

changed rewards for translators

Currently more than 180 translators are helping in providing more than 46 translations, many thanks to all of you! Translations can easily be added on our glotpress site at https://translate.mapsmarker.com and translators are entitled for free Maps Marker Pro licenses and free access to updates and support in exchange for their valuable contribution.

Getting a professional license key worth €249 in exchange for help with translations now even got easier, as we lowered the level of completeness needed: now <=80% is needed instead of <=50% completeness. If you are interested in becoming a translator, please see https://translate.mapsmarker.com for more information.

Other changes and optimizations

  • compatibility check for “Geo Redirect” plugin (thx Vladislav!)
  • add .htaccess file to plugin folder to explicitly allow direct access to specific PHP plugin files (thx Nikos!)
  • increase maxNativeZoom level for OpenStreetMap from 18 to 19 for higher details
  • removed compatibility fallback from https to http for tile images & API requests if locale zh (Chinese) is used
  • trim Mapbox custom basemap parameters to prevent broken URLs 
  • updated jQuery timepicker addon from v1.6.1 to v1.6.3 (bugfix release, full changelog)
  • replaced built-in-support for OGD Vienna maps with support for basemap.at (covering whole Austria, disabled by default)
  • updated setting link to new “Google Styled Maps Wizard”
  • disable update button on marker edit page as long as TinyMCE HTML editor is not fully loaded to prevent issues with popuptext not saving correctly (thx JunJie!) 

Bugfixes

  • bing attribution could disappear when map getBounds() return out range values
  • settings page could be visible to non-admins (changes could not be made though)
  • large icons could distort “list all markers”-page (thx Hockey!)
  • admin notices and compatibility infos were not shown above menu
  • add fix for Google.asyncWait which can cause issues on mobile devices
  • “headers already sent”-message on plugin activation
  • errorTile-images option for custom basemap 2&3 was not considered on marker&layer edit pages
  • vertical scrolling on marker and layer edit pages was broken on mobiles
  • OpenRouteService.org directions integration was partially broken (no start point was set due to changed layer IDs – thx Marco!)
  • compatibility check issue with W3 Total Cache Plugin v0.9.5 only (see mapsmarker.com/w3tc-hotfix for background info)

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 80%, the translator receives a free 25 licenses pack worth €249 as a compensation for completing the translation to 100%.

Outlook – plans for the next release

Please see the roadmap for a rough schedule for planned features of the pro version and 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

new filter mmp_before_setview which allowing to utilize the map load-event (thx Jose!) 
improved performance on backend for OpenStreetMap-based maps by support for conditional & deferred Google Maps API loading 
add pagination for “list all layers” page on backend
support for geocoding providers Mapzen Search, Algolia Places, MapQuest Geocoding, Photon@MapsMarker
add support OpenStreetMap variants (Mapnik, Black&White, DE, France, HOT)  
add support for Stamen basemaps terrain & toner  
add support for MapQuest (Hybrid) basemap  
compatibility check for “Geo Redirect” plugin (thx Vladislav!)  
add .htaccess file to plugin folder to explicitly allow direct access to specific PHP plugin files (thx Nikos!)  
option to disable Google Maps Javascript API  
add info texts about marker/layer concept to better assist new users  
support for OpenMapSurfer Bounds as default custom basemap 1 (enabled for new installs only)  
support for OpenTopoMap as default custom basemap 2 (enabled for new installs only)  
support for Hydda as default custom basemap 3 (enabled for new installs only)  
support for new default custom overlays Waymarked Trails and OpenWeatherMap (enabled for new installs only)  
increase maxNativeZoom level for OpenStreetMap from 18 to 19 for higher details
reorganized settings page for better usability  
improved performance of marker icons loading on marker edit & tools page (by eliminating extra http requests by using base64 image encoding instead) 
removed compatibility fallback from https to http for tile images & API requests if locale zh (Chinese) is used  
trim Mapbox custom basemap parameters to prevent broken URLs  
updated jQuery timepicker addon from v1.5.5 to v1.6.3 (bugfix release, full changelog)  
disable update button on marker edit page as long as TinyMCE is not fully loaded to prevent issues with popuptext not saving correctly (thx JunJie!)  
reorder menu items and collapse links to advanced features by default for better focus (thx Wieland from http://user-experience.wien/!)
hide advanced layer edit functions and make them visible on click only (to better assist new users)  
updated default error tile image which provides possible explanations for loading issues and also suggests solutions  
replaced built-in-support for OGD Vienna maps with support for basemap.at (covering whole Austria, disabled by default)  
updated setting link to new “Google Styled Maps Wizard”  
disable update button on marker edit page as long as TinyMCE HTML editor is not fully loaded to prevent issues with popuptext not saving correctly (thx JunJie!)  
MapQuest basemaps were broken since July 11th 2016 (automatic fallback to OpenStreetMap for existing maps if mandatory API key is not set)  
bing attribution could disappear when map getBounds() return out range values
large icons could distort “list all markers”-page (thx Hockey!)  
admin notices and compatibility infos were not shown above menu  
add fix for Google.asyncWait which can cause issues on mobile devices  
“headers already sent”-message on plugin activation
errorTile-images option for custom basemap 2&3 was not considered on marker&layer edit pages  
vertical scrolling on marker and layer edit pages was broken on mobiles  
OpenRouteService.org directions integration was partially broken (no start point was set due to changed layer IDs – thx Marco!)  
compatibility check issue with W3 Total Cache Plugin v0.9.5 only (see mapsmarker.com/w3tc-hotfix for background info)
Translation updates
In case you want to help with translations, please visit the web-based translation plattform
updated Catalan translation thanks to Efraim Bayarri, http://replicantsfactory.com, Vicent Cubells, http://vcubells.net and Marta Espinalt, http://www.martika.es
updated Chinese translation thanks to John Shen, http://www.synyan.net and ck
updated Dutch translation thanks to Marijke Metz – http://www.mergenmetz.nl, Patrick Ruers, http://www.stationskwartiersittard.nl, Fokko van der Leest – http://wandelenrondroden.nl and Hans Temming – http://www.wonderline.nl
updated French translation thanks to Vincèn Pujol, http://www.skivr.com and Rodolphe Quiedeville, http://rodolphe.quiedeville.org, Fx Benard, http://wp-translator.com, cazal cédric, http://www.cedric-cazal.com, Fabian Hurelle, http://hurelle.fr and Thomas Guignard, http://news.timtom.ch
updated German translation
updated Hungarian translation thanks to István Pintér, http://www.logicit.hu and Csaba Orban, http://www.foto-dvd.hu
updated Italian translation thanks to Luca Barbetti, http://twitter.com/okibone and Angelo Giammarresi – http://www.wocmultimedia.biz
updated Japanese translations thanks to Shu Higash
updated Latvian translation thanks to Juris Orlovs, http://lbpa.lv and Eriks Remess http://geekli.st/Eriks
updated Lithuanian translation thanks to Donatas Liaudaitis – http://www.transleta.co.uk and Ovidijus – http://www.manokarkle.lt
updated Russian translation thanks to Ekaterina Golubina (supported by Teplitsa of Social Technologies – http://te-st.ru) and Vyacheslav Strenadko, http://slavblog.ru
updated Spanish translation thanks to David Ramí­rez, http://www.hiperterminal.com, Alvaro Lara, http://www.alvarolara.com, Victor Guevara, http://1sistemas.net, Ricardo Viteri, http://www.labviteri.com, Juan Valdes and Marta Espinalt, http://www.martika.es
updated Swedish translation thanks to Olof Odier http://www.historiskastadsvandringar.se, Tedy Warsitha http://codeorig.in/, Dan Paulsson http://www.paulsson.eu, Elger Lindgren, http://bilddigital.se, Anton Andreasson, http://andreasson.org/ and Tony Lygnersjö – https://www.dumsnal.se/
updated Ukrainian translation thanks to Andrexj, http://all3d.com.ua, Sergey Zhitnitsky and Mykhailo, http://imgsplanet.com

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”. Alternatively you can also download the current version here, unzip the package and overwrite the plugin´s files on your webserver.