Location Finder Setup

1. Settings
   1. Finder Settings
   2. Detail Settings
   3. Search Settings
   4. Single Map Settings
2. Finding An Address
   1. Entering An Address
   2. Ambiguous Addresses
3. Usage Practices

Settings

Finder Settings

• Parent Module - You must select a Location Explorer on your site from this drop-down list. Once selected, the Finder module will be able to use the mapping API and key, as well as pull the locations for distance calculations.
• Unit Of Measurement - Select the unit of measurement (mi or km) which will be used in the distance calculations
• Enable Paging - Select whether paging is enabled
• Page Size - If paging is enabled, the page size (number of results per page)
• HTML Overlay Template - This allows you to customize the HTML information balloon that is displayed on the map. This template makes use of replacement tokens, which are as follows:
  • [LOCATION_NAME] - The location name
  • [LOCATION_NUMBER] - The location number, if enabled
  • [LOCATION_ADDRESS] - The location street address
  • [LOCATION_CITY] - The location city
  • [LOCATION_REGION] - The location state or region
  • [LOCATION_POSTALCODE] - The location zip or postal code
  • [LOCATION_COUNTRY] - The location country
  • [LOCATION_TELEPHONE] - The location telephone number, if enabled
  • [LOCATION_EMAIL] - The location email address, if enabled
  • [LOCATION_WEBSITE] - The location website URL, if enabled
  • [LOCATION_EDIT_TEXT] - The "Edit" label
  • [LOCATION_EDIT_URL] - The URL of the location edit page
  • [LOCATION_VIEW_TEXT] - The "View" label
  • [LOCATION_VIEW_URL] - The URL of the location landing page
  To provide a clickable hyperlink to the location landing page, you could enter <a href="[LOCATION_VIEW_URL]">[LOCATION_VIEW_TEXT]</a>.

Detail Settings

• Map Height and Map Width - The pixel height and width of the map, when the user views the details of a location
• Map Position - The position of the map in relation to the location description: above, below, or beside text
• Map Type - The default map type: normal (illustrated), satellite, hybrid (satellite with illustration), or terrain
• Zoom Level - The default zoom level of the map image: street, city, region, or country
• Enable Directions - Allows the user to get directions to the specified location, based upon the information they provided in the search criteria
• Directions Display - If directions are enabled, select how directions will be displayed (same window or pop-up window)
• Enable Directions Email - If directions are enabled, selecting this option will allow the user to email the directions
• Enable CAPTCHA - If directions are enabled, and emailing directions is enabled, selecting this option will require CAPTCHA entry, which prevents automated submissions.
• Enable Telephone - If selected, you will be able to edit the telephone number, and the user will be able to view it
• Enable Website - If selected, you will be able to edit the website, and the user will be able to view it
• Enable Email - If selected, you will be able to edit the email address, and the user will be able to view it
• Enable Location Number - If selected, you will be able to edit a location number (custom "number" for your location), and the user will be able to view it
• Enable Tags - If selected, you can add custom tags, which allow you to provide an alternate categorization or grouping, and your site visitors to search by those tags
• Enable Image - Select to display any image uploaded for each location, if enabled in the Explorer

Search Settings

• Show Address - Select whether the address will be an input displayed in the Finder
• Show City - Select whether the city will be an input displayed in the Finder
• Show Region - Select whether the state/province/region will be an input displayed in the Finder
• Region Display Type - Select how the region will be displayed in the Finder
• Restrict Region - If the region is shown, this will restrict the search result to the selected region
• Show Postal Code - Select whether the zip code or postal code will be an input displayed in the Finder
• Show Country - Select whether the country will be an input displayed in the Finder
• Default Country - If the country is shown, this will be the default country. If not, this will be the country passed to the mapping service for geocoding
• Restrict Country - If the country is shown, this will restrict the search result to the selected country
• Show Top N - Select whether the number of results returned will be an input displayed in the Finder.
• Top N Values - Enter a comma-delimited list of values displayed in the Top N drop-down list
• Default Top N - If the Top N drop-down list is shown, this will be the default selected value. If not, this will be the number of results returned
• Show Within - Select whether the search radius will be an input displayed in the Finder. If it is not, there will not be a radius restriction on the search
• Within Values - Enter a comma-delimited list of values displayed in the search radius drop-down list
• Show Category - Select whether the category will be an input displayed in the Finder. If it is not, all locations will be searched, regardless of category
• Category Name - Enter the category name. This is the label or caption of the category list
• Show Alt. Category - Select whether the alternate category will be an input displayed in the Finder. If it is not, all locations will be searched, regardless of alternate category
• Alt. Category Name - Enter the alternate category name. This is the label or caption of the alternate category list
• Show Rating - Select whether the rating will be an input displayed in the Finder. If it is not, all locations will be searched, regardless of rating
• Show Location Name - Select whether the location name will be an input displayed in the Finder. If it is not, all locations will be searched, regardless of name

Single Map Settings

• Enable Single Map - If selected, all locations displayed on a page will have points plotted on a single map above the listed locations. If paging is enabled, only the locations currently displayed will be plotted
• Single Map Width and Single Map Height - If Enable Single Map is selected, the pixel width and height of the single map
• Single Map Type - The default map type of the single map: normal (illustrated), satellite, hybrid (satellite with illustration), or terrain
• Single Map Zoom - The default zoom level of the single map
• Single Map Marker Label - Select a customized marker (map point) icon label, instead of a marker with no caption or label
• Single Map Marker Label Color - The customized marker label text color
• Single Map Label Type - Select a marker label type: Pin or Flat
• Hide Location Details - If selected, only the single map will be displayed, and the list of locations will not be display

Finding An Address

Once the Location Finder module is configured, and its parent Explorer module has been populated, your users will be able to perform location searches.

Entering An Address

Depending on how the settings on configured, most address-related searches will be properly geocoded, and distance calculations can be made.

Ambiguous Addresses

If an address can not be accurately determined, the mapping sevice will sometimes return potential candidates, from which your customer can select.

Usage Practices

The Location Finder requires a parent Explorer to be properly configured and populated, before any location distance calculations can be made. Even if the Explorer (directory) is not publicly available to your users, it is required by the Finder (locator) to function properly.

This has been updated for version 1.7