The Timeline follows the movements of the 15th Battalion chronologically using WP Go Maps Pro Map 3 – Timeline. Each dated marker represents the Battalion at a particular location and can contain a title, location, description, images and related material.
How the Timeline works
The Timeline page embeds WP Go Maps Map 3. Each Timeline marker has a WP Go Maps custom field named Date. The public Timeline uses that date field to decide which marker to display as the visitor moves forward or backward through the chronology.
The Timeline is not a standard WP Go Maps configuration. It depends on custom JavaScript stored in WP Go Maps → Settings → Custom JS. That code creates the Previous and Next controls, manages the date filtering, moves the map to the visible marker and controls the chronological navigation.
A separate Code Snippets entry, WP Go Maps – Limit Date Selector (snippet 7), affects the WP Go Maps administration screen. It limits the Timeline Date field to the First World War period without altering an existing date. This admin snippet is supplementary to the public Timeline programming; it does not provide the Timeline navigation itself.
Adding or editing a Timeline point
At present, Timeline points are created and edited directly in WP Go Maps. A valid Timeline point requires:
- Map: Map 3 – Timeline;
- Date: the WP Go Maps custom field named Date;
- Title: normally including the location or activity and, where helpful, the applicable date range;
- Location: address or latitude/longitude;
- Description: a short explanation of what the Battalion was doing;
- Images: where available, including photographs, maps, trench maps or war-diary extracts; and
- Related link: optional.
After adding or changing a marker, check the public Timeline page to confirm that the point appears on the intended date and that its images and description display correctly.
Important custom-code dependency
The Timeline behaviour depends on custom JavaScript in the WP Go Maps global settings. Do not replace, reset or overwrite the WP Go Maps settings without first preserving that custom code.
The current JavaScript advances one calendar day at a time. If no marker exists for that day, it continues stepping until it finds the next date that does have a Timeline marker. This works while the Timeline is small, but it will become increasingly inefficient as the historical period expands and gaps between dated points become larger.
The code also contains Timeline-specific date limits and some assumptions about WP Go Maps internal map objects. These should be treated as custom application logic rather than ordinary map styling.
Future development – Timeline Manager
Routine Timeline entry should eventually be moved out of the standard WP Go Maps editor and into a purpose-built Timeline Manager.
The proposed form would allow an editor to enter:
- date;
- location or coordinates;
- title;
- description;
- images; and
- an optional related link.
The manager would validate the information and create the corresponding marker directly in WP Go Maps Map 3, including the Date custom field. A map/location picker and preview should be considered so that the final point can be checked before saving.
Where possible, the implementation should use WP Go Maps’ supported internal/API methods rather than writing directly to its database tables.
Future development – more efficient chronological navigation
The present day-by-day stepping should be replaced by navigation based on the dates that actually exist in the Timeline. The code should build an ordered list of dated Timeline markers and make Previous and Next move directly to the adjacent available date.
This would eliminate repeated filter cycles across dates for which no marker exists and would scale much better as the Timeline grows.
Future development – cumulative “footsteps” map
A further enhancement would allow previously visited Timeline locations to remain visible as the visitor moves forward. Instead of replacing one marker with the next, each new dated point would be added to the map so that the Battalion’s route gradually appears.
The map should automatically adjust its bounds to keep all visited locations visible. Two additional controls would be useful:
- Focus on current location – zoom to the newest Timeline point while leaving earlier points visible; and
- Show whole journey – refit the map to all Timeline points visited so far.
A route line connecting the visited markers could also be added to strengthen the visual “footsteps” effect.
If this cumulative display is implemented, Previous should remove the most recently added point, while Reset should return the Timeline to its starting point.
Recommended future refactoring
The Timeline Manager, direct navigation between actual dated markers and cumulative footsteps display should be developed together as one Timeline refactoring project. That would provide a simpler editor workflow while preserving the existing WP Go Maps data and the public historical presentation.