Store Locator / Maps

Flow ID: CF-28 | Module(s): maps, Map domain, SmartPoints | Complexity: Medium | Last Updated: 2026-09-14

Business Overview

Interactive store locator system that allows merchants to create multiple maps, each containing geolocated points (stores, branches, pickup locations). Visitors browse a map page by slug, see all location pins rendered on a Google Maps embed, and can search/filter to find the closest point.

What customers experience:

• Navigate to /maps/{slug} to view a specific map with its locations
• Google Maps embed renders all active location pins with markers
• Each pin shows title, address, city, postal code, country, and description in an info window
• Proximity search sorts pins by distance from a search query using Google Places API
• Location data is multi-language -- content adapts to the active storefront language

What admins manage (legacy panel):

• Create/edit maps with per-language titles, slugs, and optional background images
• Add/edit/delete location points per map with GPS coordinates, country, and per-language address details
• File uploads for map and location images stored in files/maps/
• Role-gated: AUTH_ROLE_ADVISABLE, AUTH_ROLE_ADMIN, AUTH_ROLE_MARKETING, AUTH_ROLE_MEDIA

Key business behaviors:

• Locations with any empty required field (id, address, title, city, country, lat, lng, zip, description) are silently excluded from storefront rendering
• Location data is mapped to SmartPointDTO -- the same DTO used for transporter pickup points -- enabling shared Google Maps UI components
• Map slug is unique per language, auto-generated from title via greek_lower() with incrementing suffix on collision
• Cache layer (pscache) wraps all model queries on storefront; clearCache('maps') invalidates on admin writes
• Language links rendered automatically from maps_mui records for SEO hreflang

---

API Reference

REST Endpoints

Method	Path	Auth	Description
GET	/rest/map/map	Guest	List maps (paginated, filterable)
GET	/rest/map/map/{id}	Guest	Get single map by ID
GET	/rest/map/map/item	Guest	Get single map by filter
POST	/rest/map/map	Backend	Create map (JSON or multipart with image)
POST	/rest/map/map/{id}	Backend	Update map (JSON or multipart with image)
DELETE	/rest/map/map/{id}	Backend	Delete map
GET	/rest/map/location	Guest	List locations (paginated, filterable)
GET	/rest/map/location/{id}	Guest	Get single location by ID
GET	/rest/map/location/item	Guest	Get single location by filter
POST	/rest/map/location	Backend	Create location (JSON)
POST	/rest/map/location/{id}	Backend	Update location (JSON)
DELETE	/rest/map/location/{id}	Backend	Delete location

All REST endpoints support locale-prefixed paths: /{locale}/rest/map/...

Map Filters & Sorts

Filter	Type	Example
filter[id]	Exact (multi-value)	filter[id]=1,2,3
filter[active]	Exact	filter[active]=1
filter[title.{locale}]	Partial (LIKE)	filter[title.el]=Athens
filter[slug.{locale}]	Exact	filter[slug.en]=our-stores

Sort	Description
id, active	Root entity sorts
slug.{locale}, title.{locale}	MUI translation sorts via subquery JOIN

Location Filters & Sorts

Filter	Type	Example
filter[id]	Exact (multi-value)	filter[id]=5
filter[active]	Exact	filter[active]=1
filter[country]	Exact	filter[country]=GR
filter[city.{locale}]	Exact	filter[city.el]=Athens
filter[postalCode.{locale}]	Exact	filter[postalCode.el]=10431

Sort	Description
id, active, country	Root entity sorts
city.{locale}, postalCode.{locale}	MUI translation sorts

Relations

Endpoint	Relation	Type
Map	translations	one-to-many (maps_mui)
Map	locations	one-to-many (location)
Location	translations	one-to-many (location_mui)
Location	map	belongs-to (maps)

Use ?with=translations,locations to include nested data.

Legacy Storefront

URL	Controller Method	Description
/maps/{slug}	Adv_maps::index($slug)	Render map page with all location pins

Legacy Admin Panel

URL	Controller Method	Description
/map_list	Adv_maps_admin::index()	List all maps
/map_list/add	Adv_maps_admin::add()	Create map form
/map_list/edit/{id}	Adv_maps_admin::edit($id)	Edit map form
/map_list/points/{mapId}	Adv_maps_admin::points($mapId)	List locations for a map
/map_list/add_point/{mapId}	Adv_maps_admin::add_point($mapId)	Add location to map
/map_list/edit_point/{id}	Adv_maps_admin::edit_point($id)	Edit location
/map_list/deletePoint/{mapId}/{pointId}	Adv_maps_admin::deletePoint()	Delete location
/map_list/deleteMap/{id}	Adv_maps_admin::deleteMap($id)	Delete map + its locations

---

Code Flow

Storefront Page Render

File: ecommercen/maps/controllers/Adv_maps.php

1. Route dispatch: _remap() receives slug from URL, calls getMapContent($slug) via pscache
2. Map lookup: Model JOINs maps + maps_mui on current language + slug match; 404 if not found
3. Language links: renderMapLinks() fetches all MUI records for the map, builds hreflang URLs (maps/{slug} per language)
4. Location points: getMapPoints($mapId) JOINs location + location_mui for current language
5. DTO mapping: Each location is mapped to SmartPointDTO (shared with transporter pickup points); locations missing any required field are silently skipped
6. View data: Points array injected into jsonState['mapPoints'] for Vue/JS, template renders mapPointsContainer layout
7. JS bootstrap: Footer template detects isMapPointsPage flag, serializes points as window.mapPoints for the map-points.js script

REST Write Flow (Map)

File: src/Domains/Map/Map/WriteService.php

1. Create: WriteData::fromArray() extracts isActive, image; Validator::validateForCreate() runs; translations parsed from translations[] array; transactional insert of main record + MUI rows
2. Update: Same flow but uses toArray(excludeNull: true) to only update provided fields; MUI uses replace strategy (delete all + re-insert)
3. Delete: Transactional delete of MUI rows first, then main record
4. File upload (Map only): Map controller uses HandlesUploadActions with upload path files/maps/; accepts both application/json and multipart/form-data

REST Write Flow (Location)

File: src/Domains/Map/Location/WriteService.php

Identical transactional pattern to Map. Location uses HandlesWriteActions (JSON-only, no file upload via REST). Fields: mapId, country, latitude, longitude, image, active.

---

Domain Layer

Map Entity

Component	Path
Entity	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/Entity.php
MUI Entity	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/MuiEntity.php
Repository	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/Repository.php (table: maps)
MUI Repository	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/MuiRepository.php (table: maps_mui)
RepositoryConfigurator	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/RepositoryConfigurator.php
Service	src/Domains/Map/Map/Service.php
WriteService	src/Domains/Map/Map/WriteService.php
WriteRepository	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/WriteRepository.php
MuiWriteRepository	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/MuiWriteRepository.php
Validator	src/Domains/Map/Map/Validator.php
WriteData	src/Domains/Map/Map/WriteData.php
MuiWriteData	src/Domains/Map/Map/MuiWriteData.php
ListRequest	src/Domains/Map/Map/ListRequest.php
FilterByTranslation	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/Specification/FilterByTranslation.php
SortByTranslation	src/Domains/Map/Map/Repository/Specification/SortByTranslation.php

Location Entity

Component	Path
Entity	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/Entity.php
MUI Entity	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/MuiEntity.php
Repository	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/Repository.php (table: location)
MUI Repository	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/MuiRepository.php (table: location_mui)
RepositoryConfigurator	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/RepositoryConfigurator.php
Service	src/Domains/Map/Location/Service.php
WriteService	src/Domains/Map/Location/WriteService.php
WriteRepository	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/WriteRepository.php
MuiWriteRepository	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/MuiWriteRepository.php
Validator	src/Domains/Map/Location/Validator.php
WriteData	src/Domains/Map/Location/WriteData.php
MuiWriteData	src/Domains/Map/Location/MuiWriteData.php
ListRequest	src/Domains/Map/Location/ListRequest.php
FilterByTranslation	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/Specification/FilterByTranslation.php
SortByTranslation	src/Domains/Map/Location/Repository/Specification/SortByTranslation.php

REST Layer

Component	Path
Map Controller	src/Rest/Map/Controllers/Map.php (uses HandlesUploadActions)
Location Controller	src/Rest/Map/Controllers/Location.php (uses HandlesWriteActions)
Map Resource	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Map/Resource.php
Map MUI Resource	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Map/MuiResource.php
Map Collection	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Map/Collection.php
Map MUI Collection	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Map/MuiCollection.php
Location Resource	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Location/Resource.php
Location MUI Resource	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Location/MuiResource.php
Location Collection	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Location/Collection.php
Location MUI Collection	src/Rest/Map/Resources/Location/MuiCollection.php

Shared DTO

Component	Path
SmartPointDTO	src/SmartPoints/DTO/SmartPointDTO.php

---

Architecture

Relationship Model

maps (1) ──── (*) maps_mui          [translations per language]
  │
  └──── (*) location (1) ──── (*) location_mui   [translations per language]

• Map -> Locations: one-to-many via location.map_id
• Map -> Translations: one-to-many via maps_mui.map_id
• Location -> Translations: one-to-many via location_mui.location_id
• Location -> Map: belongs-to via location.map_id

DI Container

Registration File	Scope
src/Domains/Map/container.php	Domain services (Map + Location read/write)
src/Rest/Map/container.php	REST controllers with injected services
application/config/container/modules.php (line 13)	Domain module registration
application/config/container/modules.php (line 31)	REST module registration

Map REST controller receives UploadService injection for image file handling. Location REST controller does not (JSON-only writes).

Frontend Architecture

Two rendering paths coexist:

Legacy JS (assets/main/js/map-points.js):

• Used on storefront map pages (isMapPointsPage flag)
• Reads window.mapPoints array serialized from controller
• Initializes Google Maps centered on Greece (lat: 38.13, lng: 22.24)
• Adds markers, implements text search via Places API with 200km distance filter
• Filters the store listing DOM (<ul class="store_listing">) to match search results

Vue/Vuex + GoogleMapsService (assets/main/vue/googleMaps/):

• Shared service class used by both store locator pages and checkout smart points (transporter pickup)
• GoogleMapsService loads Google Maps API via google-maps Loader, supports marker clustering (@googlemaps/markerclusterer)
• googleMapMixin.js provides search, distance sorting (spherical geometry), geolocation, and point selection logic
• googleMap.vue is a slot-based container component (header, search, listing, map slots)
• Vuex state: mapPoints, googleService, googleMapLoading, googleMapsApiKey
• InitialData.vue hydrates mapPoints from window.vueData.initialData

Map options (assets/main/vue/googleMaps/googleMapOptions.js): Default center Athens (37.98, 23.73), zoom 4, roadmap type, cooperative gesture handling.

---

Data Model

maps

Column	Type	Description
id	INT, PK, AI	Map identifier
active	BOOL	Whether map is published
image	VARCHAR(255), NULL	Background/header image filename (added in migration 20251030175615)

maps_mui

Column	Type	Description
id	INT, PK, AI	Translation row ID
map_id	INT, FK	Parent map
title	VARCHAR	Map title
slug	VARCHAR	URL slug (unique per language)
lang	VARCHAR	Language code

location

Column	Type	Description
id	INT, PK, AI	Location identifier
map_id	INT, FK	Parent map
country	VARCHAR	Country name or code
latitude	VARCHAR	GPS latitude
longitude	VARCHAR	GPS longitude
image	VARCHAR	Location/pin image filename
active	BOOL	Whether location is active

location_mui

Column	Type	Description
id	INT, PK, AI	Translation row ID
location_id	INT, FK	Parent location
title	VARCHAR	Location name
address	VARCHAR	Street address
city	VARCHAR	City name
zip_code	VARCHAR	Postal code
description	TEXT	Rich description/notes
lang	VARCHAR	Language code

---

Configuration

Registry Settings (DB)

Group	Key	Description
GOOGLE_MAPS	API_KEY	Google Maps JavaScript API key
GOOGLE_MAPS	DEFAULT_LOCATION_CENTER	Default map center coordinates

Configured in Admin > Settings > Google (ecommercen/settings/controllers/Adv_settings.php). The API key is injected into the frontend config object (Adv_front_controller.php line 723) and consumed by GoogleMapsService via Vuex getter googleMapsApiKey.

Routes

Storefront (application/config/routes.php):

/maps           -> maps controller
/maps/{slug}    -> maps/$1
/map_list       -> maps/maps_admin (admin)
/map_list/{..}  -> maps/maps_admin/$1

REST (application/config/rest_routes.php, lines 239-265): All Map and Location CRUD routes with locale-prefixed variants.

Template Layout

The storefront map page uses the mapPointsContainer layout defined in application/config/mainTemplate.json:

"mapPointsContainer": {
    "view": "layouts/maps/map_points",
    "scss": ""
}

---

Client Extension Points

Admin Controller Hooks

Adv_maps_admin provides empty protected methods for client overrides:

Method	Purpose
beforeAddMapRecord($data, $muiData)	Transform data before map insert
beforeEditMapRecord($id, $data, $muiData)	Transform data before map update
beforeAddPointRecord($data, $muiData)	Transform data before location insert
beforeEditPointRecord($id, $data, $muiData)	Transform data before location update
setNewMapRelations($entityId)	Create related records after map insert
setUpdateMapRelations($entityId)	Update related records after map edit
setNewPointRelations($entityId)	Create related records after location insert
setUpdatePointRelations($entityId)	Update related records after location edit
indexRender()	Inject extra view data on map listing
addRender() / editRender()	Inject extra view data on map forms
pointRender()	Inject extra view data on location listing
addPointRender() / editPointRender()	Inject extra view data on location forms

Validation Overrides

• mapValidation($isUpdate) -- override to add custom map form rules
• pointValidation() -- override to add custom location form rules

DI Overrides (Client Repos)

Client repos can override domain services by aliasing in custom/Domains/container.php:

$services->set(\Custom\Domains\Map\Location\Repository\RepositoryConfigurator::class);
$services->alias(
    \Advisable\Domains\Map\Location\Repository\RepositoryConfigurator::class,
    \Custom\Domains\Map\Location\Repository\RepositoryConfigurator::class
);

SmartPointDTO Reuse

The SmartPointDTO is shared between store locator and transporter smart points (checkout pickup). Client repos extending transporter integration automatically benefit from the same Google Maps UI infrastructure.

---

Business Rules

Rule	Implementation
Slug uniqueness per language	createSlug() in model -- greek_lower() with incrementing suffix
Incomplete locations excluded	Storefront array_reduce filter checks all 9 required fields
Cache invalidation	clearCache('maps') called on every admin write operation
Map deletion cascades	deleteMap() removes maps, maps_mui, location (by map_id), and location_mui (by location_id)
Location deletion cascades	deletePoint() removes location_mui first, then location row
MUI replace strategy (REST)	On update, all MUI rows are deleted and re-inserted within a transaction
Translation language required	Validator enforces lang field present on every translation entry
Upload path	Map images stored in files/maps/ (both map and location images)

---

Known Issues & Security Gaps

No known issues at this time.

Related Flows

• CF-06 Order Preview -- checkout smart points (transporter pickup) reuse the same Google Maps infrastructure and SmartPointDTO
• SY-23 MUI Translation Pattern — how maps_mui and location_mui tables power multi-language map and location content
• SY-28 Storage Abstraction — map and location image files stored via the storage abstraction layer