Description of this WordPress Plugin:
Foursquare is rising in popularity, and will continue to grow. This plugin makes it easy to share your last check-in location without needing to worry about giving away personal info, and you don’t need to be an expert in mapping APIs!
The plugin places a Google map in a widget area and lets users enter their preferences over what they show, be it just the map, or the name of the place too, or the comment they left while there. Simple, effective, and sociable.
Plugin features:
- Offers an easy way to share your last check-in location with your blog’s readers.
- Built on the Foursquare and Google Maps APIs, so expect blistering fast speeds.
- Intuitive interface for editing options, with plenty more power under the hood.
- Independent handling across multiple widget instances, using WordPress 2.8′s widget_class coolness.
Step-by-step installation instructions:
- Download the plugin from the WordPress Plugin Repository.
- Extract the files and place the entire ‘foursquare-map’ folder in your wp_content/plugins directory.
- Go to your ‘Installed Plugins’ panel and activate ‘Foursquare Map’.
- You are now ready to use the widget.
Usage instructions:
- Go to your ‘Appearance > Widgets’ panel and select the widget area you wish for the plugin to appear in.
- Enter the following details:
- Widget Title
- Foursquare Email Address *
- Foursquare Password *
- Map Size (squares only for now)
- Map Zoom Level (zero is furthest, 21 is closest)
- Indicate whether to show the venue name
- Indicate whether to show your last comment
* no trace of this info is discoverable – you’re in totally safe hands here.
- Hit ‘Done’ then ‘Save Changes’. Test the appearance and perhaps change the size of the map as necessary
The Widget Options Panel:
Version History:
V 0.1 the first iteration of what I hope will be a learning experience for everyone
Future Versions:
V 0.2 – allow map width and height to be adjusted independently
V 0.3 - allow easy switching between Foursquare and Google Maps markers
V 0.4 – allow users’ to place their Foursquare avatar on the map as a marker
V 0.4 – pending user feedback!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Where do I put the widget?
You can place it wherever you like as long as it is within a pre-defined widget area. I haven’t worked out how to let people place the widget wherever they like. Let me know if you can help on my contact page though.
Can I style the widget in my own way?
Kind of. You can change the parts that are created by WordPress by using your stylesheet.css to override your theme’s default widget settings. I’ve added the below style classes for you to do so:
- .four2map – the widget class
- .widgettitle – the widget’s title (same as all widgets)
- .venue – the div above the map containing the venue name
- .label – the text within the .venue div
- .map – the map itself
- .comment – the text below the map
To make changes to what you see within the map, you might need to play around with the Google API code in bundled with the widget. I’m sure code snippets will start to appear in the comments right here to help you along.
Got any cool tweaks I can make to the code?
Yeah – in fact let’s start collecting them in the comments.
To add the city you’re in to the venue label, replace line 89 with this:
echo "<span><a href='http://foursquare.com/venue/".$fq->venueId."'>".$fq->venueName.", ".$fq->city."</a></span>";
To add the timestamp of your last checkin, add this just below line 94:
echo "<span>".$fq->date."</span>"; // show check-in time
Where can I find more help and support?
Just leave a comment below, or email me from my contact page. I’ll be happy to help where possible.
How can I support this plugin’s development?
Thank you so much for asking. Please click below to donate a small sum to this plugin’s developer:
Just a quick note – this project is now listed under the official Foursquare Apps directory right here: http://foursquare.com/app/foursquare_map_for_wo....
Hi Tom, it works fine, thanks!
It looks a lot nicer with WordPress widget
Thanks Anka,
Glad you like it. Let me know of any new features you'd be interested in.
Tom
How about extending it to access the check-in time?
That's a good idea. I guess users would want to control whether and how the
time is displayed?
Yeah, I am just finishing up modifying the plugin now to test it out. Didn't realise you'd respond so fast.
Other options would be to display city & state information alongside the venue title.
(for example: instead of venue being just “McDonalds”, it could say “McDonalds, Perth, Western Australia”).
Great feedback.
Thanks for taking the time to think about the potential for this widget. I'll look into extending the info currently made available in the code.
Stick around, ok?
EagerExistence, you'll find the code you need to add the city name above, in a brand new section of the FAQ. I'll endeavour to include an official option in the next release.
Yeah, I saw that bit of code. $fq.city, $fq.state, and $fq.date. But when I tried to expose it, everything on the site died. I dont have a local test environment, but a hosted one.
I will try again as soon as I get a minute.
Cheers for the help.
love the plugin, but it doesn't consistently display my location. Sometimes everything shows up – other times I get just get a blank google map. See screenshot below:
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/852/71720101...
any ideas?
Hello h8torade!
I've had that issue too. From my studies I've reached the conclusion that
since this bug is not consistently reproducible, then it must be a speed
issue at Foursquare's end. The Google map frame always loads, and once
created it goes off to fetch the last check-in address and details. If it
gets a response *after* the page loads, nothing will appear as in your
image. However, if I were to make the plugin 'wait' for a response, the rest
of your blog would be left hanging, and that would make for a bad plugin.
I'm sorry I can't be more help on this one, but since very little actually
happens in WordPress here, there's little I can do. I expect that Foursquare
will get a lot better at handling API requests as demand grows, so please
stick with me and let's ride it out together!
Yours.
Tom
sounds good – thanks for the quick response!
Is it possible to use OAuth support for authorization ?
I don't like to share passwords in every DB
MvG,
Alexander
Thanks for information, I'll always keep updated here!
Hi BAB2501, is OAuth a feature that would encourage you to use this plugin?
I can implement it if others wish for the same thing – so let me know, people!
Instead of showing my last checkin … is it possible to show other peoples checkins and badges.. with a link back to that 4sq page.
Hi Naweed,
Your request won't be possible with this plugin, no.
I've chosen to go with accessing logged-in info, rather than parsing that
info via an RSS feed, because Foursquare stated that their feed system is
liable to change with some frequency, as they continue to develop as a
platform.
For now, logged-in info is the best way to tell the widget what to do. As
such, unless you use someone else's login details, you won't be able to show
someone else's location I'm afraid.
As for showing off badges, I'd like to develop this further, but I wanted to
keep this plugin really simple, just the basics required for communicating
with your readers. So I *might* look into this, but I'd release it as a
separate plugin. Just an idea, but you could add some text below your
Foursquare map saying “click above to see all my badges!” or something?
Yours,
Tom
Hi Tom,
Yesterday i noticed that when i did a private check-in [off the grid] it shows on FS as [off the grid], but on my blog you can see my check-in as normal!
Not a big problem for me, i don't use that offen, but just that you and others know that if you really don't want people to know about where you are… be careful then
Ok – thank you. I'll look into a way to fix this in the next release. Thanks
Anka!
Awesome, thanks