Legacy module
The module described in this article has been marked as a legacy module. This means the following:
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We don't create new features for this module or fix any bugs.
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The module is not available anymore in Xentral instances (demo or licensed) created after 28-Sep-2022. If you as a new user have special requirements that could only be fulfilled by this module, please contact our customer support team to discuss a solution.
For more information, see also Why is Xentral deprecating some modules and what does this mean for you?
With the module customer area search you can clearly see on a map view the locations of your customers. To do this, enter an address and the radius to be able to view the nearby customers. This facilitates e.g. your planning for an external appointment if you want to combine several customer appointments in the region.
Google Maps controls the map content, OpenStreetmap is responsible for populating the addresses with geodata. Thus, you need both API keys in order to use the module.
To enable proximity search via OpenStreetMap, do the following:
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Create an account at Openstreetmap: https://openrouteservice.org/sign-up/
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Request API key
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Enter API key in the customer area search settings
To enable proximity search via Google Maps, follow these steps:
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Create API key at Google Maps. Click "Request Key" at the top of this page and agree: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/get-api-key?hl=de
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Enable the following APIs in your Google API account: Geocoding API, Maps JavaScript API
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Enter API key in the proximity search settings
Under Administration → Settings → System → Process Starters, create a new Process Starter with the following values:
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Description → "Openstreetmap" must be entered as the name
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Type → Select "periodic" as the type from the drop-down menu
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weekday → Select "Every day" from the drop-down menu
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Start time → The default start time must be left as it is
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Last Run → The specified end time is to be left in place
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Period → 1500 in min. is to be specified as the period
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Type → Select "Cronjob" from the drop-down menu
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Parameter → "openstreetmap" must be entered as parameter
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Active → Ticking activates the process starter
The process starter gradually fills in the two geodata fields under Addresses → Other data.
A maximum of 2000 addresses are processed per day with the process starter -. the API of Openstreetmap does not allow more. Thus, the process starter should be set to 25 hours (period = 1500 minutes).
You can see the following fields in the overview:
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Project → Loads all addresses associated with this project
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Search address → Around this address xentral performs the radius search (center of the search radius)
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Zip code → Instead of an address can also be searched around a zip code
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Radius → number of kilometers of the radius around the search address
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Search → click button to start radius search
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The geodata is available for x of y addresses → The process starter has stored geodata for these addresses. If geodata was not stored for an address, the API could not clearly assign the address
If you want to search around a specific address, enter the name or customer number of the address in the "Search address" field. The ZIP code field must remain empty.
You can also search by zip code. If only 3 digits are entered for the zip code, the remaining digits will be padded with 9s. Example: From the input. 815, Xentral makes 81599.
Postcode search abroad:
This works by adding the country after the postal code as a 2-digit ISO country abbreviation so e.g. 3100 AT.
Some (e.g. erroneous) addresses cannot be uniquely assigned by the service to a Geoposition, for example, if misspellings are included. In this case, the address can be corrected or manually located. To get an overview of the addresses with and without geocoding, you can create a report.
To do this, go to Master data → Import/Export Central → Master Data Export and create yourself a new export with "NEW" e.g. as follows:
Note
Until version 21.1 it's via Management → Import/Export Central → Master Data Export.
Possible fields for export:
type; name; country; street; city; zip; lat; lng;