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Creating Locations and GoogleMaps in an Entry

GeoType allows you to note several points as Locations to appear on one GoogleMap that will be placed directly onto your entry's published page.

When you create a new location from scratch in an entry, that location's data is saved and can be re-used throughout the blog on any entry. It is also possible to save more data about the location. Map appearance settings are not saved along with the location; that is to say if you zoom in very closely in one entry with the location "Iceland", on another entry you can independently zoom out or choose another map type without affecting the first entry.

This page explains how to:


Figure 1
Default Edit Entry screen when no locations have been created.
Click on the image to enlarge.




Figure 2
Creating a new location named "Iceland - The Whole Country",
with the address "Iceland".
Click on the image to enlarge.




Figure 3
A newly created map for Iceland.
Click on the image to enlarge.




Figure 4
If the location can't be pinpointed by GoogleMaps,
a message box will appear in your browser saying so.




Figure 5
The Saved Locations dropdown displays all the names of
locations created in this blog.



Create Your First Location From Scratch
  1. Click "Add Location..." [ Figure 1 ]

  2. Enter a name for your location. It can be anything specific or generic, but it is required.

  3. Enter the address for your location. Your address will be fed into the GoogleMaps engine, so any address that would be accepted by GoogleMaps can be accepted here. Note that in [ Figure 2 ] the address is just "Iceland", but that's good enough for GoogleMaps to determine which point to plot on the map.

  4. Click the 'Geocode' link across from the Name and Address fields.

  5. If the address could be mapped, the Latitude and Longitude values will be displayed underneath the Address field and your new map should appear in the preview box with the point marked with a red thumbtack bubble [ Figure 3 ].

    If the map cannot be pinpointed by Google, a message box will pop up in your Internet Browser with an error message. [ Figure 4 ] Check with the FAQ for a complete listing of error messages and what they mean.

  6. Save the entry. You cannot save the created location's coordinates unless you save the entry.

Add a Saved Location
  1. From your Edit Entry screen, click "Add Location..." [ Figure 1 ]

  2. View the "Saved Locations" dropdown menu choices and select the one you'd like to use. [ Figure 5 ]

  3. The preview map should add that location as a point, and the Name, Address, and Lat/Long fields should fill in that location's data automatically.

  4. Save the entry to save the location in the entry.

Add More Locations

Because only one map is shown per published entry, multiple locations are marked with the red thumbtack bubble on the same map. To add more locations, simply follow the steps above to either create a location from scratch or from a saved location. Note that the entry's preview map will display the new location's thumbtack upon location creation, but after you save the entry, you can control the zoom to contain all of the locations.


Configuring Your Map's Appearance

All of the controls you view on the map of your Edit Entry screen are the ones that will appear on the entry's published page. If you'd like the map to be of a certain type or centered in an alternate place, make the preview map look how you'd like it to appear and save the entry. The zoom settings, center point, and map type will all appear on the published page as you choose while editing the entry.

If there are options you'd like to change but are not able to, the settings may have been disabled for this blog. View the Map Settings page for more information.