Haven’t seen one yet. Great idea for a plugin though.
There’s quite a few in Plugins > Maps or Member Maps.
I haven’t examined each – as tonight is my first date with BP.
Creating a Google Map from user’s address info (I wouldn’t get more specific than post code, unless it is a store front business) is fairly common. I wrote my first Google Map, of my customers, 1 1/2 years ago, and it wasn’t new then.
I know the first thing I will need to do is modify the user’s profile page to include post code for individuals, street address for store fronts. For what I want to do in BP, I will:
* Get the user’s post code
* Then use Google’s free API script to “geocode” the address (convert address to LAT/LNG coordinates) and store in SQL table.
* Display the Map (in a CSS .div) with a handful of user’s.
Maps don’t make a lot of sense if they are too big or too over-populated with “Pins”. A “MapLoco” hit counter map is fun to look at with 100s of little dots, but not at all useful in a social networking scenario.
What I’m going to do with Maps, is use it in a Jobs scenario, for small bands wanting gigs, and venues needing small bands, to find each other, schedule performances or gigs (I hate to use the more accurate word “dates”), book, then have the map for driving directions.
After all, it is a Google Map, so use the built-in driving directions, with satellite and street view to see the location before going there.
I don’t want to come over as all doom and gloom especially as this is my first post but I would think long and hard before adding such a feature. At first glance, many website owners (including some well known ones) think this is a great idea… but, think long and hard about this.
Many users will enter their “real name” when they register. If you add a postcode field (which would be required to add map pins), most users will have given sufficient information to pinpoint them to their front door.
There are many public records that can be data-mined by bots. One of the trends these days is for a bot to trawl the data provided by websites such as those hosted by WordPress (because it is open source, they know exactly what to look for) and then cross-reference that with public information (phone books, Facebook, electoral register, etc… Given a surname and a postcode, this would be enough to allow these bots to start collecting data for possible identity theft.
I have seen many sites (including a well known newspaper) do this without thinking of the consequences but after I pointed this out to them, the feature was removed within a few hours (which is extremely unusual at the best of times). I guess after they contacted their legal advisors, they were told that they faced extreme liability if it were found that this kind of data-mining of their site lead to mass identity theft (particularly after the “phonejacking” fiasco).
Just a thought and all the best for your sites.
-PiOfCube
Yes. I understand the concerns of PiOfCube however, we should not halt progress in the name of fear. Where there is a problem. There is a solution. Would a personal login and paid membership be the answer? I have a site that HAS to have this option for what the site offers to work.
I think I found a possible solution. I don’t need the exact address. Only location. Could there be a way not to ask for address of users, but nearest cross streets? That saves the identity while still being able to make a workable geo-location for maps, etc…
