Google Maps Plugin

Version History

Mac OS X 10.4 users download version 2.8.
Mac OS X 10.3 users download version 2.6.3.

  • 10/9/2018
    • Not compatible with macOS 10.14 Mojave. Apple has removed all support for Address Book plugins.
  • 2.9.2 - With 10.9 "support" (7/20/14)
    • Re-issue this update to add partial OS X 10.9 support. Requires manually copying the shared framework to the Frameworks folder. The installer detects OS X 10.9 or later and will provide instructions.
    • This is just temporary until I find a more professional solution or make a proper 10.9 version of the plugins.
  • 2.9.2 (10/6/13)
    • Re-issue this update to retract OS X 10.9 support.
    • Installer now warns that the plugins are not 10.9 compatible and will not install.
    • Separate plugin removal tool has been made available from the website.
  • 2.9.2 (7/19/13)
    • Installer is now OS X 10.9 compatible.
  • 2.9.1 (8/16/12)
    • New Gatekeeper-compatible installer.
    • Installer and plugins are now signed with my Developer ID.
    • Removed Google Earth functions since they no longer work.
      (Explanation here.)
  • 2.9 (7/26/12)
    • Mountain Lion caused a problem where the plugins couldn't find the shared framework in ~/Library/Frameworks. Implemented a work-around for the problem, but had to drop support for OS X 10.4.
    • Version 2.8 is still available for anyone still using OS X 10.4.
    • No new features were added for this version, no need to upgrade if you're not running Mountain Lion.
  • 2.8 (1/28/12) — Download 2.8
    • Implemented a work-around for a Lion Address Book framework bug that was preventing directions from working as intended.
    • Simple installer script.
  • 2.7.2 (11/26/09)
    • Fixed bug that would prevent context menu from appearing while running Address Book in 32-bit mode in Snow Leopard.
    • Custom installer.
  • 2.7.1 (9/23/09)
    • Updated installer. On 10.5 and higher, the plugins can be installed for all users or just the current user. On 10.4, the only option is to install for all users. In 10.4, an admin user must run the installer for it to install properly.
  • 2.7 (9/20/09)
    • Compatible with Mac OS X 10.4-10.6.1 and higher. Universal binary, 32- and 64-bit.
    • Dropped support for 10.3. Version 2.6.3 is still available for download.
    • Some minor changes to support 10.6: can no longer hide menu items.
    • Replaced custom installer with an Apple installer package.
  • 2.6.3 (3/6/07) — Download 2.6.3
    • Added support for Australian Google Maps domain (applies to New Zealand as well).
    • Replaces parentheses in phone numbers with square brackets. Work-around for change Google made where Google Maps will not parse nested parentheses sent in URL.
  • 2.6.2 (10/28/06)
    • Added Netherlands to the list of Google Maps domains.
  • 2.6.1 (9/25/06)
    • Plugin should now recognize Google Earth Pro and Google Earth EC.
  • 2.6 (9/20/06)
    • Work-around for Google Earth: no longer adds contact name to addresses when looking up in Google Earth, otherwise Google Maps returns a Google Earth KML file with coordinates of 0,0 (near Africa). This bug was reported last week, Google altered something on their end.
    • Users can now choose their preferred Google Maps domain. The default setting in based on your preferred address formatting in Address Book.
    • Option to add the country name to the address for searches (in the previous version it always did, now you have a choice).
    • Google domain list can be customized, if necessary, inside the shared framework.
    • Country names are now looked-up from the Address Book framework itself.
    • Rewordings and misc. improvements.
  • 2.5.2 (7/14/06) — Download 2.5.2
    • Improved Unicode support for accented and Japanese characters.
    • Improved handling of special characters in contact names, such as ampersands and quotes.
  • 2.5.1 (6/22/06)
    • Fix for Google Earth problems with accented characters.
    • Reworded and generally more-informative dialog boxes.
    • Custom installer. Should not suffer from the quirks that Apple's Installer does. Still installs in the user's Home folder. The installed files can be moved to the root Library folder if desired. (May be an option in Installer in the future.)
  • 2.5 (6/15/06)
    • Support for Google Earth, including directions.
    • Google Earth options are only available if Google Earth is installed on your computer.
    • Contains all updates from the 2.4 beta builds:
      • Intel & PowerPC support, Apple Installer package.
      • The country for addresses without a country field filled in will now be determined simply by the formatting of the address.
      • Support for Europe and new localized Google Maps domains.
      • User can now choose their preferred default country in the Google Maps Preferences. This is used to determine which localized version of Google's website to use for displaying maps.
    • Other minor updates.
  • 2.4 Beta 4 (6/8/06)
    • One set of plugins now supports 10.3.9 and above and both PowerPC and Intel CPUs.
    • Installer package now supports both platforms as well.
    • The country for addresses without a country field filled in will now be determined simply by the formatting of the address. The preferred country in the Preferences still applies to set the Google Maps domain to use.
    • Temporarily removed localizations until I'm sure I'm done editing the interfaces.
  • 2.4 Beta 3 (5/10/06)
    • Found the issue with 10.3.9 crashing.
    • New Installer package for installing plugins and new shared framework.
  • 2.4 Beta 2 (5/10/06)
    • Should fix issue with 10.3 crashes.
    • Partial French localization (more to come)
  • 2.4 Beta (5/9/06)
    • Support for Europe and new localized Google Maps domains.
    • User can now choose their preferred default country in the Google Maps Preferences. This is useful for two reasons: if available, it will use the localized version of Google Maps for your chosen country; also, if an address' country field in not filled in, the default country will be assumed.
    • Other minor adjustments.
  • 2.3 (12/2/05) — Download 2.3 for PowerPC or the Universal Binary
    • Customizable phone number separators.
    • Fixed a Preferences-related bug in Panther.
    • Duplicate names in directions pop-ups are now appended with a number.
    • Other minor internal updates.
  • 2.2.1 (8/23/05) — Download 2.2.1
    • Fixed a bug that would cause Address Book to crash for certain addresses.
    • Improved support for Japanese addresses that include a postal mark as part of the postal code.
    • While UK and Canadian postal codes should only have one space in them, I added support for more than one.
  • 2.2 (8/22/05)
    • Japanese addresses now work properly in Google Maps. (At this time Google does not support Japanese directions.) There are new Preference options for Japanese addresses for ignoring the "Postal Code" and the "Further Divisions" fields, both of which Google Maps does not work with. This assumes that Japanese addresses are stored similar to how Apple stores theirs ó which seems to make sense from what I've been told and read about Japanese addresses.
    • Added the option to display a contact's phone numbers on the map in addition to their name. (Currently this only works as intended in Safari, and possibly other WebCore-based browsers. The option can be turned off in the Preferences.)
    • Improved detection of the country an address is from. This is important as it determines which Preferences get applied to your addresses and also determines which Google Maps domain is used when displaying the map. If your address does not have a postal code it goes by the formatting of the address in Address Book instead.
    • Displays person or company icons next to names in Directions drop-down menus.
    • Detects whether you display your contact names by last name first or first name first and displays Directions drop-down menus accordingly.
    • Preferences option to sort by first or last name instead of just by first name for Directions drop-down menus.
    • Better support for addresses with no name, what good an address is without a name, I don't know. =)
    • No longer puts a comma between the State and ZIP Code for US addresses. The comma would cause rare problems with certain locations.
    • Fixed a bug in 10.3.x where the Preferences may not take effect until the next launch of Address Book.
    • Other interface adjustments and minor improvements.
  • 2.1.1 (8/1/05) — Download 2.1.1
    • Fixed a bug that caused some user's Google Directions window from not appearing.
  • 2.1 (7/31/05)
    • Major improvement to address the ìspinning beach ballî issue when loading Google Directions with a large number of Address Book cards. Google Directions window should load significantly faster.
    • Google Directions now recognizes the preferences setup in Google Maps Preferences.
    • Google Directions pop-up menus are now sorted alphabetically.
    • Improved error handling for more informative logs when something goes wrong.
    • Added support for duplicate Address Book entries in Panther for Google Directions.
    • Improved support for Address Book cards with no names.
  • 2.0 (7/29/05)
    • Can now get directions between Address Book addresses or other addresses you type in.
    • The plugins no longer disable themselves for unsupported countries. Google seems to be gradually adding support for more countries so this seems appropriate. Please do not ask for help for unsupported countries though. Thanks. =)
    • Minor additions and tweaks such as better keyboard accessibility.
  • 1.3.1 (6/20/05) — Download 1.3.1
    • Fixes a bug where the plugin may be grayed out for supported countries. Seems to have been caused mainly by imported addresses, due to differences in country codes.
  • 1.3 (6/20/05)
    • Fixed a bug where the plugin would fail to load the web browser when combined with Apple Script Address Book plugins.
    • Further character handling improvements. Properly handles common punctuation in name fields and addresses, such as &, #, etc.
    • The plugin will now determine the location of an address either by postal code, or the country code stored for that address. Country codes are determined by the format of an address as specified in Address Book. (See Address Book's help for more information on address formats.) This means you no longer have to specify country fields in the preferences to make use of the postal code options.
    • Based on the location of an address, the plugin will now use the correct Google domain (such as .com, .co.uk, or .ca). While I haven't seen a difference in service, Google Maps should display the proper country now if an address cannot be found.
    • Preferences are now implemented as a separate plugin. This is for down the road when other plugins (such as Google Maps directions) may need to share the same data. There is still the option to keep the menu item hidden and out-of-the-way during normal use.
    • Streamlined and improved the preferences. (Uses a different preferences file than the previous version to avoid conflicts.)
    • The maps plugin will now disable itself for countries that Google Maps cannot lookup addressed for.
    • Other small miscellaneous adjustments.
  • 1.2 (6/10/05)
    • Added customizable settings to overcome some of Google's quirks. Preferences can be accesses by holding down the Option key while clicking on the address' label.
    • Can use Address Book person or company name as Google Map label.
    • Filters apartment numbers.
    • Filters periods in country abbreviations.
    • Ignores Zip+4 Zip Codes.
    • Option to use only postal codes for certain countries (such as the UK).
    • Improved special character filtering (again) and URL encoding.
  • 1.1 (6/6/05)
    • Checks and removes line breaks, tabs, # signs, and other unsupported characters from addresses.
    • Added comma separators for addresses. Required for some addresses to be found properly.
    • May fix a case where some addresses would not load due to the presence of invisible characters or special characters in an address field. Otherwise gives a proper notification that it couldn't load instead of doing nothing. If this is the case, try retyping the address in Address Book.
  • 1.0 (6/5/05)
    • Initial release.