GeoType Plugin

About

GeoType is a plugin for Movable Type that uses the Google Maps API to tie geographic coordinates to an MT object.

Platform

This release of GeoType is intended for Movable Type 4.3x, although it has similar functionality to the original GeoType plugin on MT 3.

It has not been tested in MT 5.x. Since it modifies several visual elements of the Edit Entry screen in MT 4, there is a good chance that it will not work as expected.

Installation

When installed, GeoType will trigger an MT Upgrade screen since it stores location data along with created entries in the database.

To install this plugin, place the

plugins/GeoType

directory in your MT plugins directory, and place the

mt-static/plugins/GeoType

directory in your mt-static/plugins/ directory.

Once the code is in place, you can either start the upgrade in your browser by visiting the URL to log into MT, or you can run it at the command line:

# MT_DIR is the path where your MT installation exists
# (i.e. where mt.cgi lives)
cd MT_DIR

# adminuser is the user name of a System Administrator in the MT
# installation
perl tools/upgrade --name="adminuser"

Configuration

Before you can interact with the GoogleMap API, you need to set the Google API key. Since you'll need one API key per domain, if all of your blogs publish on the same domain that your MT instance resides on, you only have to set this value in the system-level GeoType plugin settings. Otherwise, you have to specify the Google API key under each blog's GeoType plugin settings.

Either way, when you view the GeoType plugin settings, the first input field should be for the API key value with a link to the Google Maps API registration underneath. Click on that API Registration link, check the box to agree to the terms, enter your URL, and generate your API key. Copy and paste the resulting key back into the GeoType plugin settings and save.

Usage

Creating a Location

Go to Create -> Location. Enter an address (i.e. 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC), and click GeoCode. Provide a custom label for the location in the next step.

Adding a Location to an Entry

In the Edit Entry screen, there should be a Locations heading in the right sidebar. Add a location to the entry just as you'd add any other asset.

Using the Template Tags

I recommend using the <$MTgeotype:entrymap$> tag in an entry's context to show one map per entry. Add that tag in the body of your Entry Archive to quickly display your map!