Adam Sommer

Why not be able to checkin on your blog so that your readers know where you are and have been? Sure there are other checkin sites on the Internet, but now you can count your blog as one of them.
WPCheckin allows location checkins to be displayed in a widget or on any page via shortcode. Using Google Places, choose a location closest to your geo location as determined by your browser’s HTML5 location information.
This plugin requires a Google API key to be able to retrieve locations nearby, and stores checkins in a custom post type.

WPCheckin Widget and Shortcode

Post checkins to your WordPress site, and using Google Places choose a location closest to your geo location.

Gary Kovar

If you find you regularly write blog posts about (local?) places you might want to provide info such as hours, phone number, address to your users. However, this can be difficult to keep current. Fortunately Google offers an API called Google Places API Web Service. Google Place API Web Service allows you to Add up-to-date information about millions of locations.
WP_Places Plugin requires a Google Places API Web Service Key. However, at the time of writing the API key is free and provides up to 1,000 requests per 24 hour period. If you verify your identity (by providing Google a Credit Card) they will increase your daily request per 24 hours to 150,000.
Once Installed, WP_Places takes name and location and displays a DIV containing Business Name, Address, Hours, Phone Number, Website.
The following shortcodes are available:
<ul>
<li>[wp_places name] displays the Google Places name</li>
<li>[wp_places formattedAddress] displays the address in the regionally standardized way</li>
<li>[wp_places phoneNumber] displays the phone number in the regionally standardized way</li>
<li>[wp_places hours] displays the hours of operation in a list</li>
<li>[wp_places website] displays the website</li>
<li>[wp_places priceLevel] returns the pricing level as prescribed in google places API</li>
<li>[wp_places rating] returns the average rating as prescribed in google places API</li>
<li>[wp_places lat] lattitude</li>
<li>[wp_places lng] longitude</li>
<li>[wp_places openNow] returns 1 if open</li>
<li>[wp_places openNowText] returns “Open Now” if open</li>
<li>[wp_places permanentlyClosed] returns 1 if permanently closed</li>
<li>[wp_places photos] returns photos if google supplies them</li>
<li>[wp_places reviews] returns a UL list of reviews if google supplies them</li>
</ul>
To filter how long to cache the google reply there is a filter:
add_filter( ‘wp_places_transient’, ‘wp_places_update_transient’, 10, 1 ); 
wp_places_update_transient( $time ) { 
 // return a value in seconds for how long to cache. 
 return 86400; // one day 
 return 604800 // one week 
}

WP_Places

I wrote this. And it works for me. I kinda like me. Thanks me.



Biased review

WP_Places populates up-to-the-minute information about almost any location or business. Display address, phone number, hours of operation, and website …

WPCheckin Widget and Shortcode vs WP_Places