If your Markers are not displaying on the front-end of your website, this could be due to any of a number of reasons. We will go through them in order of probability. Please follow the following steps, in order, to troubleshoot the problem.
- Ensure You Are Using the Latest Versions of All Plugins
- Flush/Empty/Delete Your Cache
- Confirm That Your Marker data XML Directory and Marker data XML URL Fields are Correct
- Are you running on HTTPS?
- Do You Have A Map Theme Selected?
Ensure You Are Using the Latest Versions of All Plugins #
Please ensure that you are using the latest versions of all WP Go Maps plugins. To check to see whether you need to update your plugins see WordPress Dashboard → Updates. Click the Check again button. Then scroll down to the Plugins section of the page and verify that none of your plugins need to be updated. If the plugins do need to be updated, please do so and then refresh the page where your Markers were not displaying.
If all of your plugins are up-to-date and your Markers are still not displaying, continue troubleshooting with Flush/Empty/Delete Your Cache.
Flush/Empty/Delete Your Cache #
Please ensure that your flush (or empty or delete depending on the software used) your cache files. If your web hosting provider has caching enabled on the web server, ensure that cache is emptied as well. If you are using the CDN option on your caching plugin, please ensure that XML files are excluded from the CDN. After doing so, refresh the page that contains the Map’s shortcode in your browser.
If the Map is still not showing or if you know you are not running any caching software in WordPress or on your web server, please continue with Confirm That Your Marker data XML Directory and Marker data XML URL Fields are Correct.
W3 Total Cache instructions
- Click on “Performance” in your left navigation once logged in
- Select “CDN”
- Scroll down to “Advanced”
- Ensure that “{uploads_dir}/wp-google-maps*” appears in the “Rejected files” list. Example below:
Ensure WPG Maps does not use the CDN
Confirm That Your Marker data XML Directory and Marker data XML URL Fields are Correct #
Please navigate to:
WP Go Maps -> Settings -> Advanced settings
Scroll down to Pull marker data from. If this is set to XML File (Great for large amounts of markers) then verify that the Marker data XML directory and Marker data XML URL settings are correct. If there is a problem with these fields, a note should appear highlighting the issue (see screenshot below).
missing XML directory error message
These are the most common issues:
- The Marker data XML directory is incorrect. This is often the case when you move your site from a staging/development environment to a live environment. Please update this to the “Suggested Directory” supplied below the field text box. Please also ensure that the directory has a trailing forward slash at the end.
- The Marker data XML directory is not writable. Please use an FTP client to navigate to the directory and apply file permissions of 755 (777 as a last resort) to the directory, making sure you include all files and subfolders as well.
- The Marker data XML directory does not exist. Please create it. Please use an FTP client to navigate to the parent directory of the missing directory and create a new folder with the name given. Please ensure you check that the file permissions are set at 755 as well.
- The Marker data XML URL is incorrect. Again, this can happen when you move your site from a staging/development environment to a live environment. Please update this to the “Suggested URL” supplied below the field text box.
If you have ensured that there are no error messages being displayed on the WordPress Dashboard → Maps → Settings→ Advanced Settings Page and your Markers are still not displaying, please continue with Are You Running on HTTPS?
Are you running on HTTPS? #
If your site is running in mixed HTTPS mode (why are you still doing that?), your browser may reject the XML markers that are being pulled in via HTTP (non-SSL). The solution is to make sure your Marker data XML URL is an HTTPS address to the location of your markers. This can be changed here WordPress Dashboard → Maps → Settings→ Advanced Settings.
If you have ensured that your Marker data XML URL is HTTPS or you are not running on HTTPS (why not?) and your Markers are still not displaying, please continue with Do You Have a Theme Selected?
Do You Have A Map Theme Selected? #
The WP Go Maps Plugins allow you to enter custom JSON theme data. It allows you to style the map to suit your site. However, there are some cases where the lack of a theme will cause the Map or the Markers to no longer show on your site. To rectify this, please navigate as follows to select a present theme and save the map
WP Go MAPS -> Maps (edit your chosen map) -> Themes
