Google Maps: Reducing Usage and Costs
Google Maps is used for everything related to locations in the system:
- Contact Details form
- Members choosing Service Areas in the Member Dashboard
- Members setting locations for posts when creating them
- Displaying maps on profile pages
- Displaying maps in the sidebars of profile pages or post pages
- Users searching for members and posts by location
- Users sharing their location to auto-fill location search fields (Detect Visitor Locations add-on)
Removing any of this functionality will impact the user experience, so it is a matter of deciding which trade offs are not as important to make and disable that functionality accordingly.
How to Limit Maps
1. Limiting the areas on the site using location search fields of any kind which uses the "Places API" and "Geocoding APIs":
Search Modules:
A) Homepage -
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Homepage
** Do not use any of the "Location Search" or Maps **
Additional Information:
» Search Type - Search Box / Call to Action
B) Header Mini Nav & Sidebars -
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Header Mini Nav
** Do not use any of the Location modules **
Additional Information:
» Header Design
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Sidebars
** Do not use any of the Location modules **
Additional Information:
2. Location fields and/or rendering the Google Map in Get Matched lead forms (though this is probably minimal compared to searches):
A) Get Matched Page:
B) Profile Pages:
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Lead Forms
1) Set the Location Fields to "OFF".
2) Decrease usage by switching to "Only Input"
Additional Information:
» Leads » Manage Leads » Lead Settings » (Auto-Match Workflows) » Form Settings
3. The display of Google Maps themselves on profile pages and search results pages (JavaScript API):
A) Profile Pages:
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Profile Pages
- Profile Tab - Overview Tab Order: Location Map "Do Not Display"
B) Search Results Pages (with the Google Map Search Results Add-On):
Where to Remove the Location Searches for: Search Results Pages
First disable the maps.
Go to Content » Edit Post Settings » Member Listings » Search Results tab » Additional Settings:
Scroll all the way down to find: "Display Google Map Option on Search Results Pages" set it to NO
Now inside the Design Settings » Search Results Pages select either List or Grid view for the results:
The Map button no longer appears:
Inside the Design Settings, selecting Map view once this has been disabled, it will need to be enabled again:
4. If the Detect Visitor Locations Add-On, disabling this would reduce usage as well:
Additional Information:
» Detect Visitor Locations Add-On
5. Maps on the Forms can be disabled:
This will apply to the Contact Details and the Feature Forms - the setting to disable the map will be inside:
Content » Edit Post Setting » "Post Type" Edit » General Settings » Additional Settings
First select the post type that this change will apply to. In this example, using the Classifieds:
** Selecting "No" will hide the map on the Contact Details form in the Member Dashboard when a member enters their location information. This will not impact the member's ability to save a location for their profile.
The member can still enter their location inside the form:
