We’re switching to Apple Maps

posted by Patrick Crowley on August 20, 2018 at 8:14 am

Medium

Hey, folks!

We’re changing how theater maps on Cinema Treasures look.

In the past, we have been using Google Maps for all the maps you see on Cinema Treasures. We used Google Maps on each theater page to show where the theater is located. We also used Google Maps when we displayed a list of theaters so that we can show the location of each theater in a given area.

Unfortunately, though, Google has decided to dramatically increase prices for their mapping service. This price hike has impacted our website and thousands of other sites like it. In our case, if we continue to use Google Maps, our monthly bill will definitely increase. And, not just a little bit — we would need to pay 500 times what we used to pay!

We’re not kidding. Our bill would literally be 500 times greater. And, as you can imagine, that’s not really something we can afford, so we can no longer use Google Maps on Cinema Treasures.

Luckily, however, Apple has recently started allowing websites to use Apple Maps in the same way Google does. (Up until now, Apple Maps was only available for use on the iPhone.) While these new maps from Apple do look a little bit different, they mostly work the same as Google Maps.

In addition, due to this pricing change, we have been forced to disable embedding street views on our theater pages for now. In the future, we may be able to bring these back and there’s a real possibility they will return — but only if we can figure out a way to do so affordably.

For now, if you need to access the street view for a theater, just click on the ‘View larger map’ link on the theater page. This will display a larger theater map. And below the map there will be a direct link to the Google Maps page for that theater. And, once you’re looking at theater in Google Maps, you can load the street view for that location.

Lastly, while we have done a lot of extensive testing, if you do see a bug with these new maps, please let us know.

Thanks for your understanding and support!

Cheers,
Patrick

Comments (40)

Ian
Ian on August 20, 2018 at 11:42 am

I like the fact that the flags are now named, making it easier to identify the theatres. Not noticed any problems yet.

MPol
MPol on August 23, 2018 at 2:03 am

That’s a good idea. It is easier to identify the theatres. No problems so far.

Comfortably Cool
Comfortably Cool on August 28, 2018 at 9:56 am

My internet browser has started flashing “Not secure” whenever I connect to the Cinema Treasures website. What’s that all about?

Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley on August 28, 2018 at 11:27 am

Hey, Comfortably Cool. Currently, we don’t support secure connections (via https), so that’s why you’re seeing that message.

While we do plan to switch to secure connections in the next few months, it’s still perfectly safe to use Cinema Treasures since we’re not storing sensitive data (like credit card information).

Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley on September 16, 2018 at 5:39 pm

Sorry, guys. We had a technical glitch with the maps, but they’re working again. :)

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on September 18, 2018 at 10:53 pm

If you’d rather not see the unsecure connection message you may want to give Chrome a try. (Google isn’t charging for their browser …. yet.)

Also Chrome gets along very nicely with the CT site.

Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley on September 22, 2018 at 10:27 am

No reason, Comfortably Cool. That was a bug! ;)

Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though. I’ve fixed this issue — that widget is now once again showing the correct movie theaters.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on December 24, 2018 at 9:18 am

good effort. now how about updating stories…

Biffaskin
Biffaskin on January 20, 2019 at 9:27 am

The new mapping service is more than adequate. Is there any chance that a county search could be introduced?

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on February 10, 2019 at 4:45 am

stevenj. Thanks, I have reported this to the site owners.

Patrick Crowley
Patrick Crowley on February 11, 2019 at 12:36 pm

The maps are working again. Sorry about that, folks!

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on February 28, 2019 at 12:56 pm

any update on newer stories on cinema treasures?

Cheslor
Cheslor on March 20, 2019 at 10:29 am

Can’t load “Find a movie theater near you:”, everything else works just fine…. any thoughts?

etwilson
etwilson on April 16, 2019 at 8:14 am

When I search by my zipcode, it just returns every single theater in the US.

stevenj
stevenj on April 18, 2019 at 6:10 pm

Lucky me. There are 7,021 open movie theaters within 30 miles of my zipcode.

Comfortably Cool
Comfortably Cool on August 13, 2019 at 1:19 pm

Whether the majority of movie venues operating in 2019 can be described as theaters (or theatres) is open to debate.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on September 14, 2019 at 6:55 am

Moviepass is no more starting today, causing other membership sites to down, specifically AMC.

David Rayner
David Rayner on January 8, 2020 at 1:52 am

I’ve noticed that whatever cinema name and location you enter into the search engine on here, the answer always comes up that it’s not found. However, if for instance, I type “Cinema Treasures Focus, Longton, Stoke on Trent” into the Google search engine, it takes me to that page straight away. Speaking of the Focus, Ken Roe, who included that on Cinema Treasures, didn’t state that there were three other cinemas in the town of Longton in those days, the Alexandra; Empire and Royal. Perhaps if he reads this, he could put that omission right.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on January 8, 2020 at 4:13 am

David Rayner: You only need to type in one word in the ‘search’ box. Type in ‘Focus’ and it will come up with all cinemas on the site which have that name in the database. Type in ‘Longton’ and it will find city or towns on the site with that name. Longton, England is one that come up. Click on it and we have 6 cinemas listed in Longton: Alexandra Palace, Alhambra, Broadway, Empire, Focus & Royal.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on January 9, 2020 at 11:22 am

At least one person on this thread has asked what has happened to the theatre news. The news was gathered and edited by a staff member of the Theatre Historical Society in Pittsburgh. At least once or twice per week she posted news on the THS website, the THS Readerboard e-mail newsletter, and here on Cinema Treasures. This worked well for a long time. But in the fall of 2018 the THS suffered a financial collapse. The last Readerboard appeared over 12 months ago and the publication of the THS"Marquee" Magazine has been suspended. There has been no one gathering theatre news since late-2018.

David Rayner
David Rayner on January 10, 2020 at 10:34 am

I managed that, Ken. It’s just that when you click on the Focus and the page loads, there is no list of Nearby Theaters in the right hand column as there is with all the other cinemas. It just says there are no more theatres (cinemas) within 30 miles of Longton, which is nonsense.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on March 5, 2020 at 10:46 am

Cool – Yes, the THSA still owns and operates the Hollywood Th. in Dormont, just a short trolley car ride south of downtown Pittsburgh. They show current movie product on its single screen, and they installed some new seats in mid-2018. If you go to the Hollywood’s page here in CT there are some comments made very recently.

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on May 8, 2020 at 4:13 pm

Ron – Conclave 2020 was postponed due to covid-19, not the reorganization of THS. It will still be in Boston next year provided we’re allowed to have events like that by then. A public announcement is coming (along with an announcement about relaunching of Marquee), but the pandemic has pushed a few things back. A few people have termed off the board, but we’ll be replacing them. That’s the extent of the “reorganization.”

Matt Lambros
Matt Lambros on May 9, 2020 at 2:17 pm

Ron – I’m well aware of that. We’re transitioning from having paid employees to completely volunteer run. There would have been news as well as a regular return of the readerboard while back, but hopefully it will be out in the next few weeks.

stevenj
stevenj on May 28, 2020 at 11:06 am

“What will SF movie theaters look like when the pandemic wanes?”

SFGate story Here

Randy A Carlisle
Randy A Carlisle on May 30, 2020 at 1:13 pm

I’m saddened to say, I received an Email from Billy Smith.. AS most know, Billy, along with Don Lewis, has a lot of photos on cinematreasures & flickr too. Well, Don passed away on May 27, in Lubbock Tx at the age of 71.. Billy wanted me to post this on here.. R.I.P. Don Lewis.. Thank you for all of your contributions to this great site & flickr too.. Randy

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on June 7, 2020 at 7:58 am

Randy, Many Thanks for notifying us of the passing of Don Lewis. He was a stalwart member of Cinema Treasures and will be missed on the site. He, together with Billy Smith have contributed numerous photographs to the site and shared them with us, even adding new theatres to swell our database. In my capacity as the Editor of Cinema Treasures I have had several personal correspondences with Don, who was a charming & polite person to know, even though we never actually met ‘in person’. May he R.I.P.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 19, 2020 at 6:38 am

I think Tenet will move to next year very much like how Universal smartly delayed their tentpole movies to that year. I remember when The New Mutants was teased back in the fall of 2017 and they pushed the release date too many times.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 20, 2020 at 12:16 pm

Tenet is postponed indefinetly

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 21, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Now i hear that Tenet will open a week before the US release around labor day weekend.

moviebuff82
moviebuff82 on July 24, 2020 at 3:48 am

movies are delayed again

KenLayton
KenLayton on July 24, 2020 at 7:38 am

Thank goodness drive in theaters are open. :)

David_Schneider
David_Schneider on November 27, 2020 at 1:16 pm

Today I saw a tv news segment about an effort by the National Association of Theatre Owners called #SaveYourCinema, to rally people to contact their representatives in the United States Congress and tell them to do something to help stop movie theaters from going out of business before they can fully reopen.

rsalters (Ron Salters)
rsalters (Ron Salters) on May 5, 2021 at 10:24 am

Long-time Cinema Treasures member and poster Hank Sykes of Cincinnati OH died recently. He had many friends in the Theatre Historical Society of America and in the Cinema Theatre Association in England.

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on May 5, 2021 at 10:50 am

Ron, Many Thanks for relating the sad news of Hank’s passing. He was a good friend to both the THS & CTA participating by attending THS Conclaves and CTA Visits and was a member of the Cinema Theatre Association for 20 years.

ghamilton
ghamilton on September 4, 2022 at 2:10 pm

I accidentally UNSUBSCRIBED to your e mails. Can I reverse this error.

Froccattled
Froccattled on November 14, 2022 at 3:59 am

The news was gathered and edited by a staff member of the Theatre Historical Society in Pittsburgh. At least once or twice per week she posted news on the THS website, the THS Readerboard e-mail newsletter, and here on Cinema Treasures. This worked well for a long time. But in the fall of 2018 the THS suffered a financial collapse. The last Readerboard appeared over 12 months ago and the publication of the THS"Marquee" Magazine has been suspended.

Dez1977
Dez1977 on November 18, 2022 at 12:54 pm

Is there anyway to report incorrect placement of locations on the map, or move them to the correct place? I’ve noticed that the map pins for two cinemas in Nuneaton, England (the Scala and Palace) are not in the correct places on the map - just a minor move to the correct location in both cases.

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