We’ve introduced OpenStreetMap as an alternative to using Google Maps in version 1.4.70 of our Property Hive plugin and Map Search add on.
One of the common problems many of our customers face using Google Maps is reaching their free quota for map usage. This means that once they have reached a certain number of visits on maps on their site, Google then charges them per hit. Since the various changes to their API and billing system in June 2018, this can become quite costly, especially for larger sites with lots of visitors per day.
These new changes will affect our core Property Hive plugin, more specifically any maps shown on the property details page and the map on the edit property screen whereby coordinates are set.
It will also affect our Map Search add on. Maps powered by OpenStreetMap will inherit all the functionality that was previously available in this add on, such as the draw-a-search and marker clustering functionality.
With the introduction of OpenStreetMap, you will now be presented with new map provider options under the ‘Map’ tab in the Property Hive settings. Simply navigate to these settings and choose your chosen map provider. We’ve released new documentation to assist with the addition of OpenStreetMap, which you can find here.
We’re really excited to be expanding the map providers available in Property Hive to save agents money and in future we will be looking to support others such as MapBox and more.
To keep up to date with upcoming development and some of the not so distant future plans for Property Hive, you can take a look at our roadmap here or sign up to our newsletter below.
