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Smart Local Google Maps — Documentation

Basic Setup

Smart Local Google Maps needs no tracking ID or API key to start: once the plugin is enabled it detects Google Maps embeds automatically. (An API key is optional, and only for the {smartmap} shortcode.) This page explains what happens after you enable it and which settings to review first.

Plugin settings, Appearance tab open

Enable & Go

  1. Install the plugin (see Installation)
  2. Enable it under System > Manage > Plugins (search for Smart Local Google Maps)
  3. Open any frontend page with a Google Map: the consent box appears and the map is held back

No template editing is required. The plugin checks the rendered HTML of every front-end page for map code and blocks it until the visitor consents. Administrator pages and non-HTML output (JSON, feeds) are not touched.

How Detection Works

The plugin runs during Joomla's onAfterRender event, after the full page HTML is built. It applies 21 built-in regex patterns (plus an optional custom pattern) to find Google Maps iframes, API scripts and extension-specific markup. Each match is removed from the output and replaced with a consent box or inline placeholder.

See Map Detection for the full pattern list.

Two Ways the Plugin Helps

Mode What it does
Block (default) Detects and removes existing Google Maps from your pages until consent is given
Create The {smartmap} shortcode builds a map from an address, already wrapped in the consent placeholder

See Shortcode for the {smartmap} settings.

Settings to Review First

The plugin works with sensible defaults, but these are the settings most sites change:

Tab Setting Why review it
Appearance Consent Box Position Floating box (1–4) or inline placeholder (5) — pick what fits your layout
Appearance Color Theme Match the consent box to your site's look
Content Privacy Policy Page Link your privacy policy from the consent box
Cookie Settings Cookie Lifetime How long a consent decision is remembered
Geo-Detection Browser Language Detection Show consent only to EU/EEA/UK visitors
Shortcode Enable {smartmap} Shortcode Turn the {smartmap} map builder on or off (on by default)
  1. Open the Appearance tab and choose a Consent Box Position and Color Theme
  2. Open the Content tab and select your Privacy Policy Page
  3. Open the Cookie Settings tab and decide between Session or a number of days
  4. Save and test on a page that contains a Google Map, in a private browser window

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