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GeoContent Manual

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

Installation

Mandatory steps

1. install the component
2. configure the component: set options unders "Components->GeoContent->Parameters" (do not forget the API key!) and save configuration
3. create and configure at least one layer
4. add at least one item to the layer

Optional steps

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.

Map views

GeoContent supports three kind of maps:

Overview map

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.

Automatic item map

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".

Tag driven map

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.

Parameters

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:

• contentid: article's id

Front-end map editing

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")

Notes

about point icons

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

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.

Activate the front-end map editor

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 (href must be on a single line, carriage returns have been inserted for clarity):

<a rel="{handler: 'iframe', size: {x: 800, y: 400}}"
    href="/index.php?option=com_geocontent&view=editor&tmpl=component&id=XXX
    &contentid=YYY&layerid=ZZZ" 
    class="modal">
Click to activate map editor
</a >
        

• change XXX with the GeoContent item ID, this parameter is optional
• change XXX with the article's ID, this parameter is optional
• change YYY with the layer's ID, this parameter is optional
• optionally change popup x and y size values in rel attribute

Note that depending on component's parameters configuration, front end editing can be disabled or limited to certain user levels.

Parameters

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.

Configuration

Component

Plugins

The plugin's behavior is mostly configured through the component's global options. You will find here below plugin's specific options only.

Support

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

1. Expected behavior
2. Actual behavior
3. PHP version
4. GeoContent version
5. Operating System type running on the webserver (Linux or Windows)
6. Operating System type running on the client (Linux, Mac, Windows etc)
7. Joomla version
8. Browser brand and version (example: Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox 3.5)
9. Copy/Paste the exact error message and URL
10. Provide screenshots and attach them to the bug report