Web Maps for WordPress gives anyone the ability to integrate the power of “where” into blog posts with interactive maps exposing authoritative content. This add-on for the world’s most popular CMS is designed to bridge the gap between authoritative maps registered with ArcGIS Online and WordPress. But don’t worry, anyone can use this!
Web Maps for WordPress is an easy and affordable (how about free?) way to add professional looking maps to your blog posts. You don’t have to be a geographer, GeoGeek, or GIS pro to use this. If you happen to be one of those, you may really dig the Pro version, which allows you to connect your ArcGIS Online content with your WordPress blog.
What is it?
Using Web Maps for WordPress, quickly search and add interactive maps to your pages or posts using the “Add a Map” button. Designed similar to the “Add Media” button, users now have one-click access to insert a map inside a blog post. Search millions of publicly shared maps, accessible via ArcGIS Online, and embed them in your blog using Web Maps for WordPress.
Adding a Map is Easy
While editing pages or posts, you’ll notice the addition of an “Add Map” button next to “Add Media”. Designed to provide WordPress users with a streamlined process, the Add Map button makes it easy to embed web maps in pages and posts. Similar to the way the Add Media button allows users to import a variety of content, Add Map puts millions of interactive maps at the fingertips of bloggers, website creators, media outlets, and news organizations.
Once you select a map, you can choose to configure a variety of settings before the map is embedded. Size, Show Zoom Control, Show Scale Bar, Show Legend, Show Description, Show Location Search, Show Basemap Selector, and Show “View Larger Map” Link are some of the customization options. Then, you can set your own custom map extents and create a map marker to display. (Embedded maps are fully interactive, which means that users can zoom in/out and identify features on the map.)
Some additional tips to keep in mind:
- Visible data and exposed capabilities on each map layer are determined within ArcGIS Online by the map creator.
- For layers with pop-ups enabled, users can click on features to see additional information in a pop-up dialog.
- You can expose additional map controls to the user (scale bar, legend, etc.) using the map settings on the WordPress side.
At the end of this post, you’ll see a live map that we’ve included using WebMaps for WordPress. The map is “live” and pulling data from our ArcGIS Online organization account. (If you are a non AGOL user, you can easily create a map that uses publicly available open data). In this case, the map is displaying fast food chicken joints and craft breweries. The animation below quickly walks through the steps to embed the map.
Above, using WebMaps to insert the map shown below.
Getting Started
Web Maps for WordPress is available in Free or Pro options. Start adding maps right away with the free plug-in by using the “add a new plug-in” option in WordPress. Simply select add new plug-in, then search “web maps”, or get it directly from the WordPress.org repository at https://wordpress.org/plugins/web-maps-for-wp/
See more:
- Web Maps (Free)
- Web Maps (pro)
- How-to Video
- See more at https://geo-jobe.com/wp, or contact connect@geo-jobe.com for questions or to request a demo & purchase the Pro Version.
Looking for more WordPress Tips?
The map below shares fast food chicken places in America along with microbrewery locations – the perfect pairing! We’ve included this map in this blog post using the WebMaps plug-in as described above. The map’s data is hosted in ArcGIS Online.
