Cluster Map Markers is available as part of the Premier plugin included with the Premier Subscription for Store Locator Plus or the Enterprise level of MySLP. Cluster Markers show a single map marker graphic (circle with number inside it) when two or more (you set this number) markers are within close proximity to one another on the current map view. As a user zooms in on the cluster, the clusters break apart to show the individual markers. When zoomed out the individual location markers combine into a single marker graphic with the count of locations represented by the graphic shown in the center. You determine the default radius and minimum number of locations before cluster map marker is engaged. Your “center map at” and default radius setting will effect where the map center is located.
Go to the Store Locator Plus : Settings / Map and look under the Appearance section for “Enable Cluster Markers”.
Read the Store Locator Plus news articles about Cluster Map Markers.
Premier Subscribers have access to the Results Header option under the Settings / Results tab in Store Locator Plus. This allows the results listings to be formatted in a tabular output with column headers.
Outputs the HTML + shortcodes before displaying results. You may attach the locations to an HTML element other than the default#map_sidebar div by adding id="add_locations_here" to one of your Results header elements (such as a tag). This works well with the Skywalk Rev 01 Plug-in Style for optimizing the table style results under the map.
Read The Feature Release Article.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKPR7a8lomw&w=560&h=315]
Premier subscribers or MYSLP Enterprise level subscribers will see the following features under the Store Locator Plus Settings / Search Panel.
If checked, replace the address the customer typed into the address box with what Google thought they meant. This feature is useful if your site visitor is browsing “incognito: or the location sensor is not activated.
When checked , SLP uses the selected Country Map Domain to influence how Google returns the location based on what they think the user meant when entering a search address. Google returns the most searched locations based on an algorithm. This feature is coded to redirect the returned location based on your location data points.
Uses a search boundary to influence how Google guesses what the user meant when entering a search address.
These features are very useful, especially when you have a mix of some non – standard Zip/postal codes or addresses that otherwise might be hard to find with the basic Google MAP API query.
The Premier Add On provides territories for locations. Each location can have a territory assigned that describes a rectangular area with a boundary specified in miles or kilometers north, south, east, and west of the location.
You can restrict the list of locations a user sees via the Radius Behavior setting in Store Locator Plus. The options and their influence on results returned is described in Radius Behavior.
Importing locations with territories follows the same procedure as importing a standard locations file. As with all location files the format must be a proper CSV file exported using the UTF-8 character set with no special or non-printable characters.
To load the territory data you must have first enabled the territories feature in the Premier Add On. You will also need to have installed and activated with the Pro Add On or Power Add On for Store Locator Plus.
Your CSV file should add the following five columns to the file. Make sure you add the field names to the top of each of these new columns as listed here:
Within each column you will want to have the following values:
The territory boundaries will automatically be calculated for each location during the import.
Version 4.5 of the Premier Add On for Store Locator Plus introduces territories to locations.
Once a location is setup with a territory the map markers that are sent back from the server during a user search will include a ‘in_territory’ property set to ‘1’ if the user’s location is within the territory and ‘0’ if not. An additional ‘in_territory_class’ property will also be set to either ‘in_territory’ or a blank string. Both settings are part of the ‘data’ property of the location marker.
Version 4.5 of the Premier add on for Store Locator Plus introduces territories to locations.
Before you can use the territories features of the Premier add on, you will need to enable the feature under the General / Data tab. This is off by default to reduce the data storage and processing overhead of Store Locator Plus for sites that do not need territory services. Go to the General / Data tab and check off “Enable Territory Bounds” and click save. This will create the necessary data fields and enable territory settings and features within the application.
If you later disable this feature any of the existing location territory data will be retained until you delete the location. However the location search process will no longer restrict search results to locations within a territory nor output data related to locations being inside or outside of a territory; assuming those features are enabled in the Experience settings.
Locations will now show several new fields when managing a location.
Territory Distance Unit – what is the distance unit used with this location to determine the territory coverage. None disables the territory.
Distance North – how many miles to the north of the location is the northern boundary of the territory.
Distance South – how many miles to the south of the location is the southern boundary of the territory.
Distance East – how many miles to the east of the location is the eastern boundary of the territory.
Distance West – how many miles to the west of the location is the western boundary of the territory.
When the location is saved the Territory Bounds is calculated. Editing the location will show the location point as well as the territory it covers.
Under the experience tab there is a setting the dictates how locations are shown to the user.
By default the standard “find locations within this distance of a user” is used. Any location that is within the selected radius from the address the user entered is shown on the map. Site designers and use the Experience Results Layout and Custom CSS settings to highlight locations that service the address the user has entered.
If you check of the Only Show If In Territory checkbox under the Experience / Results tab in the Functionality group the list of locations shown to the user will only include the locations where the user’s address is within the location’s territory. The radius is still used to limit the results that the server processes. If the radius is hidden and set to a default value, caution should be taken to set a reasonable radius. Checking if a point lies within a territory can be time consuming. First limiting the locations to a reasonable list by first filtering those within a certain distance of the user can sped up processing.
For example, if none of your territories are more than 100 miles from the location you can reasonably set the default radius to be all locations within 100 miles. This will limit how many locations need to have their boundaries tested to see if the user’s address is within. This will improve your territory matching performance.
