New Module: Geofinder - Location based searching for weblog entries and members

Thank you so much for the information – Geofinder is going to suit our immediate needs, but knowing that you’d be able to extend it in the future, if we do end up needing that, is great. Thanks Jason!

You are very welcome, glad to assist.

Hi - Thanks for giving Geofinder a look.

- Does the module allow for a more advanced search with additional parameters – say, filtering by custom member fields? (We saw that custom fields could be displayed in the results, but weren’t sure if they could be included as additional search parameters.) For example, we’d like to do a store locator, but allow people to do a search with not only zip code, but also choose if they’re interested in stores with “wi-fi” … or … “extended hours” … or … “patio”.

Geofinder doesn’t currently support a search parameter, are you looking for comparable functionality provided by the weblog:entries search parameter described at http://expressionengine.com/docs/modules/weblog/parameters.html#par_search?

This would truly be a great feature if this is implemented and would greatly increase the value of the module.

I have everything working. I just cant get it to filter by categories.

Seems the problem is in my categories=”{segment_5}” its in the right place, it even places the right category number, even adds 1-2-3 if multiple categories are selected on the form.

http://myclientsite.com/search/results/Nashville,+TN/300/4

i can change the last segment_5 to any number and it doesnt effect the results in any way.

The radius and address, zip, latitude, longitude is all working. Just that last segment isnt passing and filtering my categories.

I even copied the the form and results page verbatim from the geofinder docs to make sure, of course changing the weblog and variables unique to my site. But still nothing.

Within the {exp:geofinder:location_results….. tag it doesnt want to display anything related to categories, just blank.

Many thanks to anyone who can help me figure this out.

illustrationdan I have sent you an email requesting template files, please supply those so I can check for typos, etc.

Thanks for the quick response Jason!

everyone make sure you use

category="{segment_5}"

instead of

categories="{segment_5}"

By far the most painful typo to date lol

Great module, Jason - thanks!

Do you have an example of a search results listing using pagination? I’m trying it out, but the results stay stuck on the first page and the URL continues to build (/stores/locations/78745/100/P10/P10/P10…) rather than paging forward. I tried setting the ‘dynamic’ parameter to ‘on’ based on this comment, but no luck: http://expressionengine.com/docs/modules/weblog/pagination_page.html#614

Thanks, Manoj

Whoops, nevermind. I needed to add the ‘paginate’ parameter in there for it to work. 😉

Hi Jason, can the location results be limited by a custom status? It seems to work with the ‘open’ and ‘closed’ statuses, but not when I try to limit by a custom status. Could you point me to the line in mod.geofinder.php?

Thanks, Manoj

Hi Jason,

Can proximity results actually be displayed as points on a map? Are you able to provide documentation for this? (Am I missing something?)

thanks, Caroline

This looks awesome and will fit right in to a website I’m developing. But I have a question…

What’s the best way to find the latitude and longitude of any address you’re adding?

Hi Jason, Can proximity results actually be displayed as points on a map? Are you able to provide documentation for this? (Am I missing something?) thanks, Caroline

Yes, use the Google Maps API combined with the location_results tag to generate markers for your map. Email [email protected] if you need further help.

This looks awesome and will fit right in to a website I’m developing. But I have a question… What’s the best way to find the latitude and longitude of any address you’re adding?

Geotagger is “our favorite” way to get latitude and longitude for entries.

http://natural-logic.com/software/geotagger-for-expression-engine/

Hi Jason, Can proximity results actually be displayed as points on a map? Are you able to provide documentation for this? (Am I missing something?) thanks, Caroline

Here is what I used -

XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<markers>
{exp:geofinder:location_results weblog="yourweblog" status="open"  geoquery="{segment_3}" radius="{segment_4}" category="{segment_5}" latitude="{latitude}" longitude="{longitude}" google_maps_api_key="" distance_mode="miles"}

<marker name='{title}' lat='{latitude}' lng='{longitude}'>

{/exp:geofinder:location_results}

</markers>

and the JS used in the Results page

function load() {
          if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) {
            var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map"));
            map.removeMapType(G_HYBRID_MAP);
            map.removeMapType(G_SATELLITE_MAP);
            var mapControl = new GMapTypeControl();
            map.addControl(mapControl);
            map.addControl(new GSmallZoomControl3D());
             map.setCenter(new GLatLng({exp:geofinder:geocode geoquery="{segment_3}" google_maps_api_key=""}{latitude},{longitude}{/exp:geofinder:geocode}), 9);
             
            GDownloadUrl("http://www.yourwebsite.com/templates/search-xml/{segment_3}/{segment_4}/{segment_5}", function(data) {
              var xml = GXml.parse(data);
              var markers = xml.documentElement.getElementsByTagName("marker");
              for (var i = 0; i < markers.length; i++) {
                var name = markers[i].getAttribute("name");
                var point = new GLatLng(parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lat")),
                                        parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lng")));
                var marker = createMarker(point, name);
                map.addOverlay(marker);
                      }
                });
              }
        }
        function createMarker(point, name) {
              var marker = new GMarker(point);
              var html = "<b>" + name + "</b>";
                  GEvent.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
                marker.openInfoWindowHtml(html);
              });
          return marker;
        }

window.onload = load;
window.onunload = GUnload;

Jason,

Just sent you a PM with a modified geofinder module that supports related weblog entries during search. You can see it here, http://mk.click2jumpstart.com/portfolio/, if you select any shingle 1 result comes up. If you select Burnt Siena nothing comes up and if you select weathered wood you get the one result. You can also select multiple ones just like categories.