First steps

After Ultimate is installed and licensed, complete these fundamentals before fine-tuning styles or modules. Skipping them is the most common reason maps appear blank or markers never show.

Checklist

  1. Google Maps API key — create a key, enable the required Google APIs, paste it into Progress Map settings
  2. Connect post types — tell Ultimate which posts hold locations (and which lat/lng fields to use if custom)
  3. Default map center & language — under Progress Map plugin settings, set a sensible default center and map language
  4. Create a map — Progress Map → Add New Map, configure Query settings for your post type, publish
  5. Add or verify locations — edit posts and set coordinates (map picker / address geocoding in the Progress Map metabox)
  6. Display the map — paste the map shortcode (for example [cspm_main_map id="123"]) into a page
  7. Optional modules — enable only what you need under Ultimate Modules

Default settings vs per-map settings

Ultimate keeps global defaults (plugin settings) and per-map overrides (each map you create).

  • Global defaults apply to single-post maps and as starting values when you create a new map
  • Almost everything visitors see on a listing map is controlled on the individual map edit screen

When something “doesn’t change”, confirm you edited the map you embedded, not only the global defaults.

Minimum viable map

For a first successful test:

  • One post type connected
  • At least one published post with valid latitude/longitude
  • One map whose Query settings target that post type
  • API key present and APIs enabled (Maps JavaScript API at minimum)
  • Shortcode on a public page, viewed while logged out once to catch cache/permission issues

WPML and multilingual sites

If you use WPML, configure languages after the basic map works in your default language. See the dedicated WPML notes in Core / Tutorials once those pages are published; the principle is: translate posts and map strings, keep coordinates consistent across translations.

Next steps

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