Hi Mark,
the only reason i could think of is that you might have exceeding the per day query limit that Google permit.
In order to convert the address to latitude and longitude the plugin uses Google’s geocode API.
Google allows 2500 queries per day which should be more than enough for an average site but i believe that this limit is per IP.
Now, since in shared hosting you might share the same IP with many other website owner there is a change that one or few of the website on the same IP are also using Google services which might cause this issue.
I am not sure but it could also be the reason why in local machine it will work.
Also , once you are having the issue of no results try searching with no address in the address field and see if you get results. since there is no address so no geocode is needed and so you should get results.
let me know if any of this information help. Here you can read about the query limit.
Still, i am just assuming that this is the issue.
Thread Starter
Mark
(@mark_1)
Hi ninjew,
Thanks for the quick response on this. I think you are definitely on the right track with the Google Geocode API. As you requested, I tried searching with no address in the address field and the results did come up.
When I first activated your plugin during testing, I set up a Google APIs account in order to get a free Google API key. I selected the Google Maps API v3 from the API list (which I’m assuming was correct) and generated a key which I added to the field in the plugin admin section.
Earlier today I noticed I had an option to use either a browser or server API key. I had been using a server key (which I think uses the IP address of the server), so I thought that could be the problem based on what you said in your initial response. I switched to using a browser key and everything immediately starting working again, but about an hour or so later the issue resurfaced and results were no longer being returned.
I should also note that I removed the keys altogether and left the APi field in the plugin admin section empty, but it made no difference. Again, if I try to run the identical code on my local machine at the exact same time there are issues on the server, then results are returned locally without any issues.
I’m not sure if any of the above information helps, but I thought I should mention it.
Is there anywhere in the plugin code where I could see the status code that is being returned from the API? I notice Google provides a list of status codes on the page you linked to.
Thanks again for your help,
Mark
Thread Starter
Mark
(@mark_1)
Just an update on this.
I was finally able to debug server-side and confirmed that the status code being returned from the API was OVER_QUERY_LIMIT as ninjew had suspected.
Following review, I realised that since I have always have a fixed location in the address field (the user is not given an option to enter it as we are trying to determine distances from the same location), I could take the XML returned from a successful server call (since the result will always be the same) and save it off to a file. I amended the code to read the XML from the file and commented out the API call altogether. This has resolved the issue.
Thanks ninjew for pointing me in the the right direction on this issue.
By the way, I also confirmed that Google no longer takes notice of API keys in version 3. See here for more information.
Hi Mark,
Sorry for not responding earlier but i missed the pervious email notification. I am glad it worked out for you in a way that you do not need to use the Geocoding when searching, however you do need it when creating new location. or you already have all your locations ready?
Anyway, also that you for referring me to the link above as it is a Useful information.
please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thread Starter
Mark
(@mark_1)
No problem ninjew.
Yes, we only actually have the one location, our guesthouse. We use the plugin in order to allow the user to search for other locations (local attractions, places of interest etc) within a specified radius of the guesthouse. This allows guests to plan their days out and get driving directions to these destinations from our location.
Obviously, the local file solution won’t work for the majority of plugin users, but for our particular application it works fine.
Thanks again for a great plugin and excellent support.
Mark
