In order to use Google Map services you will need an API key from Google.
The API key is different for every domain on the internet and you can obtain one for your website from http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html
If you want to use "automatic item maps" or "tag driven maps" (see below) you must install and publish GeoContent content plugin too.
If you want to use "front-end map editing" (see below) you must install and publish GeoContent editors-xtd plugin too.
GeoContent supports three kind of maps:
This map shows in a single map all of your layer and objects, it is like a "geographic index" of your contents.
To add an overview map to your website you must create a new menu item and choose GeoContent as menu type.
This map shows a single item (article) inside the article's page, automatically zoomed and centered on the article's geographic shapes.
To activate this kind of map you must enable GeoContent content plugin and set "Automatic map" configuration option to "Yes".
This map shows in a single map all of your layer and objects, it is like a "geographic index" of your contents, the main difference between "Overview map" is that you decide where the map will be shown, inserting {geocontent param1="value1" param2="value2"} tag into one of your pages and that you can set several configuration parameters.
To activate this kind of map you must enable GeoContent content plugin.
For a list of global configuration parameters, see "Configuration" below, available parameters have "Yes" in the corresponding column.
Additionally, Tag driven maps support the following parameters:
Users can now edit/create map contents from the front-end.
Currently, it is not possible to create map contents for new articles. Users must first save the new article and then add geographic informations to it.
Front-end map editing has many configurable options (see below, under "Configuration")
Google Maps (and GGeoXML in the Google Maps API) - always renders icons as 32x32 pixels - no exceptions, the KML cant change that.
This means that the icons size you set in layer configuration form has only effect when the layer is shown through Google Earth, the icon size on the browser's Google Map is always stretched to 32x32 pixels. To avoid stretching, you can place your resized icons on a 32x32 pixels transparent background.
GPX loading works fine, but if the file is big it can result in huge maps. This can cause speed problems when editing the map through the integrated editor. This problem comes directly from Google's map API implementation and we (the developers) can't do much to solve it.
To show a button under the article's editor window, you can just publish GeoContent editors-xtd plugin
If you want to manually activate the editor window through a link, you must load modal API adding the following at the very top of your template:
<?php JHTML::_('behavior.modal'); ?>
then, create a link like this:
<a rel="{handler: 'iframe', size: {x: 800, y: 400}}" href="index.php?option=com_geocontent&view=editor&task=editor&tmpl=component&id=XXX&layerid=YYY" class="modal">Click to activate map editor</a >
For a list of global configuration parameters, see "Configuration" below, parameters that can be overridden in the editor link have "Yes" in the corresponding column.
| General options | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Label | Name | Notes | Available in tag maps | Available in front-end editor links |
| Google API key | google_api_key | Get one at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/signup.html | No | No |
| Map lat center | gmap_latstart | Latitude of the map center | Yes | Yes |
| Map lon center | gmap_lngstart | Longitude of the map center | Yes | Yes |
| Default map type | gmap_type | Default map type (satellite, street etc.) | Yes | Yes |
| Map zoom level | gmap_zoomstart | Map zoom level at start | Yes | Yes |
| Icon subdirectory | point_icon_folder | Icon's subdirectory (under directory "images", so "stories/geocontent" translates to "images/stories/geocontent") | No | No |
| Page title | page_title | Component page title | No | No |
| Front-end map view options | ||||
| Label | Name | Notes | Available in tag maps | |
| Map width (%) | map_width | The width of the map wrapper DIV in percent | Yes | |
| Map height (px) | map_height | The height of the map wrapper DIV in pixels | Yes | |
| TOC style | toc_style | Style of the Table Of Contents (layers list):
|
Yes | |
| TOC position | toc_position | TOC position in respect to the map window within the map wrapper DIV | Yes | |
| TOC width (%) | toc_width | The width of the TOC frame (in %) when it is positioned at the left or at the right of the map frame. This option has no effect when toc_style is top or bottom | Yes | |
| KML icon for layers | toc_kml | Show a link to the KML file for the layers, close to the layer control switch in the TOC | Yes | |
| Active layers at start | start_with_layers | Define which layer should be switched on at startup. Choose 'selected' and pick one from the list if you want to start with a particular layer | Yes | |
| Selected active layer | active_layer | Select here the layer that should be switched on at startup if you choose 'Select' as start_with_layers parameter value | Yes | |
| Open balloon links in the same window | replace_target | Open links in the same window. Replace 'target = _blank' in the map balloon links, so that they are opened in the same window | Yes | |
| Front-end map edit options | ||||
| Label | Name | Notes | Available in tag maps | |
| Front-end access | front_end_enabled | If the front-end users can edit/create maps. This option completely enable/disable front-end map editing | Yes | |
| Front-end minimum access level | front_end_level | Minimum user lever for front-end map handling | Yes | |
| Front-end check article's user access | front_end_check_user | Additionally check if the user can edit the article. Activate this option if you want to prevent users to add/edit maps on articles they have no editing permissions. This is an additional internal check, that make only sense if the map editing window is activated directly with a link, the normal plugin behaviour is to add a button under the article's editor window, this means that Joomla's standard permission check is never overridden. | Yes | |
The plugin's behavior is mostly configured through the component's global options. You will find here below plugin's specific options only.
| Content plugin options | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Label | Name | Notes | ||
| Automatic map | automatic_map | Activate this option to automatically draw a map in all article's pages when the article belongs to one or more layers. | ||
| Automatic zoom | automatic_zoom | Activate this option to automatically zoom to the article's geographic features the a.m. automatic map. | ||
| Automatic center | automatic_center | Activate this option to automatically center to the article's geographic features the a.m. automatic map. | ||
| Map position for automatic map | display_position | Position of the map in the article page in case Automatic map is Yes. | ||
| Editor-xtd plugin options | ||||
| Label | Name | Notes | ||
| Button text | button_text | The text for the editor's button | ||
Please report any issue on our Bug tracking system.
you will need to create an account and file your request under "GeoContent" project.
When reporting issues, please specify carefully