Settings, privacy and troubleshooting guide
Map area, statistics, privacy, speed plugins and what to do if something is not right.
Map area: one country, region or city
Your maps can cover the whole world, one continent, or one place: a country, nation, region, county or city. Choose it under Settings → Map area. For a place, type its name and press Find; its outline comes from OpenStreetMap.
Every map then opens on it, the rest of the world is shaded out, and listings and routes outside it are left off. Your view areas inside it appear in a menu at the start of the bar.
Statistics and Google Analytics
Statistics counts map views, listings opened, clicks through, directions, ad views and clicks, and route and trip use. It is anonymous, uses no cookies, and doesn’t count your own visits while logged in.
Sending the same events to Google Analytics: with GA4 already on the site (Site Kit, another plugin or Google’s code), tick “Also send map events to Google Analytics” under Settings → More options. Check it in a private window: open a listing or two, then look in Google Analytics under Reports → Realtime for events named pinscribe_….
To report by listing, add three custom dimensions with Event scope in Google Analytics (Admin → Custom definitions): item_name, item_id and detail. With Google Tag Manager alone, add a Custom Event trigger matching pinscribe_.* (regex) and a GA4 Event tag with the event name {{Event}}.
Privacy
The map uses no Google Maps and sets no cookies of its own, so it needs no cookie banner of its own. Like any map it loads its background from a map provider, which sees visitors’ IP addresses.
Settings → Privacy lists exactly where visitors’ requests go with your settings, and wording for your privacy policy is in WordPress’s Policy guide, kept up to date with your settings. It is suggested wording, not legal advice.
Speed and caching plugins
A map only starts loading as it is about to scroll into view. Some speed plugins hold scripts back until the visitor scrolls or taps, which leaves the map blank until then. Pinscribe excludes itself from LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket, Perfmatters and Cloudflare Rocket Loader. With any other, add pinscribe.js to its list of scripts not to delay or combine.
Something not right?
A post isn’t on the map. Open it and read the line at the top of its Map location box: it says what is missing.
The map is blank until I scroll or tap. A speed plugin is delaying scripts; see above.
The map says “API key required”, or is empty. The map tiles need a key. Add one under Design → Map controls, or choose OpenFreeMap, which needs none.
A change isn’t showing. Press Refresh the map under Settings, then clear your caching plugin’s cache.
Emails aren’t arriving (password resets, claims, trip requests). Many hosts can’t send email on their own. Install an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP and connect it to an email service (Resend, Brevo, Mailgun or your own mailbox), then send its test email.
Removing the plugin. Deactivating it takes the maps off your pages and leaves your posts untouched. Deleting it keeps all map data, unless you tick “Also delete all map data” under Settings first.