Google Maps Changes This Week
 

Last week I learned that our old Version 2 of Google Maps is becoming obsolete on Monday, June 11, 2018. The deadline was a big surprise for me, although I knew CFS was on on older version.

What will happen to the Version 2 Maps is that they will have less detail and be labeled something like "For Development Purposes Only."

Although Google's email said they had sent previous notices, I don't recall receiving them. They may have gone to Keith's old email account, which he had used with Google's Webmaster Tools. It wasn't that long ago that I changed that to use my email account.

Anyhow, in the last few days I've been working to convert the Sex Listings to use Version 3 of Google Maps.

So far, I have completed the upgrade for the Details page where you can view information about a place and post your reviews.

One change on the Details page is that I deleted the "Directions To" and "Directions From" controls from the map. It'll be easier to include Directions, if possible, in the general software upgrade for the Sex Listings rather than trying to do it from scratch. If it turns out that a lot of you use Directions on these pages instead of your GPS or the Google Maps App or web site or some other resource, I can reconsider.

I've been working today on the Category pages that show places in a city, state, province, etc. This one is a bit more difficult and I haven't finished it yet.

The map on the Search Results page is not yet tackled. I think that what I learn from doing the Category pages will help me do that one faster.

So if you see differences in some of the maps, don't be alarmed. I'm working on it and it's at the very top of my priority list.

Bob S. ~ Manager/Editor

Anything can be fixed it just takes time. Oh wait - today is June 11 - so you have no time!

Good Luck!

Thanks. :-) Looks like Google was actually "beginning" to roll out this change on June 11, not ending the old version altogether yet.

Bob

Maps are temporarily missing on the Place pages and the Search Results pages. This comes after a server crash yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn't have a backup including the recent changes for Google Maps. I'll get this fixed ASAP.

Which reminds me - I need to do a back up!

Yeah, regularly scheduled backups were one task I had failed to have my contractor set up. I'm figuring out what needs to be backed up daily, other things less often, etc.

The missing maps on the Place pages and the Search Results pages are back. However, for now I'm using the less expensive Google "Static Maps" on the Place pages.

Hope to move forward with the software upgrade this week. It will take several stages, since the site is years behind on these.

Good luck with the upgrades - they are always more treacherous than they should be!

On the Sex Listings Place pages, I made a small change today to display the GPS latitude & longitude coordinates that we have. There's also a link to a Google Map showing that GPS location; it will probably need some adjustment.

This old software, of course, only allows 6 digits of the latitude and the longitude. It rounds the numbers you'd normally get from Google or other sources. That means our GPS numbers and maps will usually be a little off -- especially in the Western US.

The new software will fix the GPS problem.

~ Bob S.

Funny - we users think of running a gay sex site as just fun with all the stories and pick up info...

We forget all the "under the hood" work that goes into it.

THANKS Bob!

You're welcum! It's fun editing the Sex Listings, most of the time, getting to read the good encounters -- and also getting to make them easier to read. ;)

~ Bob

Well they were either typed with one hand or sticky fingers so they would need some editing!