Maps Marker Pro v4.13 with support for scheduled markers, popup functionality for shapes and more is available

Posted on 04 July, 2020

Category:

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

After 6 weeks of development we are happy to announce the release of Maps Marker Pro v4.13 with many new features and optimizations.

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


add ability to schedule markers

It is now possible to schedule the visibility of markers, allowing you to better build event maps for example.

To use this feature, just select a “from” and “until” date in the new widget on the marker edit page:


add popup functionality to shapes

With v4.13 it is now also possible to add a popup text to shapes. To add a popuptext, click on the edit icon for the shape and add the text in the related new field:

Result:

Please note, that the shape names get added automatically to shape popups if the connected marker popup option “add marker name” is enabled:


add map preview to add/edit marker page

Debbie published a great German review about Maps Marker Pro but was missing one feature: the ability to preview markers from a map when adding a new markers, so that the marker can be positioned in relation to the other already existing markers.

This feature has now been added with v4.13. Just use the new widget on the add/edit marker pages (the opacity of the existing markers can also be adjusted):

Example:

We hope you like this new feature Debbie 🙂


enable WordPress embeds in popups

It is now easier to e.g. add Youtube videos to popups, as v4.13 now also supports WordPress embeds. This means like with posts or pages, you only need to add the link to e.g. a youtube video to the popup of a marker, which then automatically gets converted to a video when viewing the marker on a map.

You can find a list of currently supported WordPress embeds here.


add WhatsApp share link for desktop

The share links introduced in v4.11 also got enhanced with this release: the Whatsapp share button is now also usable when viewing the map on desktop and not on mobile only – allowing users to share your markers via the Whatsapp webinterface also:


add health check to tools page

In order for you to check if your installation of Maps Marker Pro is working properly (and to speed up support tickets), we added a health check in the tools section:


delete or reassign maps and markers when a user is deleted

If you delete a user in WordPress, you are asked if the content created with this user should be deleted or re-assigned to another user:

Please be aware, that starting with v4.13 this now also applies to maps and markers created by this user!

So if you delete a user and select “Delete all content”, also all maps and markers by this user will be deleted, unless you choose to attribute the content to another user, which will updates the map and marker infos accordingly.


add raster tiles option for custom layers

With v4.13 it is now easier to use images as custom basemap for Maps Marker Pro, e.g. for floor plans or fantasy maps:

You find the new option “raster tiles” on the custom layers edit screen:

The example map above has been created with the third party tool MapTiler – please see the updated tutorial on how to create a similar map.


optimized “add map” and “add marker” backend interface

We also optimized central backend pages, especially the interface for adding and editing new markers. The aim was to make the interface more usable and reduce the need to scroll for example:

One sideffect of these optimizations is, that the “add map” and “add marker” pages are now also better usable on mobile devices – not requiring you anymore to turn on the “desktop mode” option on mobiles for edits.


automatic translation of www.mapsmarker.com

We also updated our main website, now supporting automatic translation powered by gtranslate.io. The aim was to make it easier for non English speaking users to access contents from our knowledge base.

For more details about this implementation and how to use it, please see this blogpost.


Other optimizations and improvements

  • add option to reverse X-axis and Y-axis on elevation chart
  • add bounds and noWrap settings for custom layers
  • raise minimum PHP version to 5.6 (to avoid issues with license check)
  • improve markers list CSS
  • scroll map into view when using hightlight parameter
  • use user ID for created by / updated by
  • translate map filters if they use the map name

bugfixes

  • fix permanent tooltips not showing up on mobile
  • fix Google geocoding when using importer
  • fix admin bar menu CSS on mobile

translation updates

Thanks to 210+ translators this release also includes some update translations, see full changelog for details.

If you want to contribute to translations (in exchange for free licenses), please visit https://www.mapsmarker.com/glotpress/projects/mmp/ for more information.


Full changelog

Changelog for version 4.13 - released on 04.07.2020 (release notes)

add ability to schedule markers
add popup functionality to shapes
add map preview to add/edit marker page
enable WordPress embeds in popups
add WhatsApp share link for desktop
add health check to tools page
delete or reassign maps and markers when a user is deleted
add bounds and noWrap settings for custom layers
add raster tiles option for custom layers (updated tutorial for created maps based on images using MapTiler)
add option to reverse X-axis and Y-axis on elevation chart
automatic translation of www.mapsmarker.com
optimized "add map" and add marker" backend interface
raise minimum PHP version to 5.6 (to avoid issues with license check)
improve markers list CSS
scroll map into view when using hightlight parameter
use user ID for created by / updated by
translate map filters if they use the map name
fix permanent tooltips not showing up on mobile
fix Google geocoding when using importer
fix admin bar menu CSS on mobile
updated German translation by Maps Marker Pro team and Daniel Luttermann→ contribute
updated Spanish translation thanks to David Ramí­rez, Alvaro Lara, Victor Guevara, Ricardo Viteri, Juan Valdes & Marta Espinalt and Fernando Coello→ contribute
updated Finnish translation thanks to Jessi Björk→ contribute
updated French translation thanks to Vincèn Pujol, Rodolphe Quiedeville, Fx Benard, Cazal Cédric, Fabian Hurelle and Thomas Guignard→ contribute
updated Hungarian translation thanks to István Pintér and Csaba Orban→ contribute
updated Italian translation thanks to Luca Barbetti and Angelo Giammarresi→ contribute
updated Japanese translations thanks to Shu Higash and Taisuke Shimamoto→ contribute
updated Lithuanian translation thanks to Donatas Liaudaitis and Donatas Liaudaitis→ contribute
updated Dutch translation thanks to Ronald Smeets, Marijke Metz, Patrick Ruers, Fokko van der Leest and Hans Temming→ contribute
updated Russian translation thanks to Ekaterina Golubina (supported by Teplitsa of Social Technologies - http://te-st.ru) and Vyacheslav Strenadko, http://slavblog.ru→ contribute
updated Slovak translation thanks to Zdenko Podobny→ contribute
updated Swedish translation thanks to Olof Odier, Tedy Warsitha, Dan Paulsson, Elger Lindgren, Anton Andreasson and Tony Lygnersjö→ contribute
updated Ukrainian translation thanks to Yaroslav B Yaroshevskyy, Andrexj, Sergey Zhitnitsky and Mykhailo→ contribute

If you experience any issues, please search our knowledge base or submit a helpdesk ticket.

Happy mapping!

Your Maps Marker Pro team


How to update

The recommended 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 “Check for updates” next to “Maps Marker Pro”.

If there is an update available, please start the update by clicking the link “update now”.

If you try to update from v3.1.1 or lower, please see this user guide in our knowledge base for installation instruction and a migration tutorial.


Additional information for beta testers

No additional changes needed (as there was no beta release for this release).


Additional information for Database API users

As v4.13 of Maps Marker Pro now uses user ID for created by / updated by instead of username, the properties of the maps and marker objects have also been adjusted accordingly to return the user ID instead of the username:

  • created_by -> created_by_id
  • update_by -> updated_by_id

For the full Databse API documentation please click here.


How to install Maps Marker Pro from scratch

For directly downloading and installing the Maps Marker Pro as zip file, please click here.


How to verify the integrity of the plugin package

For the SHA-256 hash value and the number of files for this release please check the following file: https://www.mapsmarker.com/SHA256SUMS.txt

This file is digitally signed with our PGP key, key signature file available at https://www.mapsmarker.com/SHA256SUMS.txt.sig

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).


Questions? Feedback? Comments?

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) or  on Facebook, subscribe to news via RSS or via RSS/email.

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