Another Plugin Has Already Loaded Google Maps

If the store locator is replaced by this message, another plugin or your theme loaded the Google Maps JavaScript API before WP Store Locator could.

Another plugin has already loaded Google Maps breaking the store locator. Please enable compatibility mode in the WP Store Locator Tools settings.

Why this happens

The Google Maps JavaScript API can only be loaded once per page. Google’s own loader enforces this — the second script to ask for the API is ignored, and Google logs a warning in the browser console.

The Google Maps JavaScript API only loads once. Ignoring

Being second is a problem because the first plugin decides everything: which API version loads, which libraries are included, and which API key is used. If it doesn’t request the libraries the store locator needs, or it uses a key that isn’t set up for them, the map can’t work — even though the API itself loaded fine.

The fix: enable compatibility mode

  1. Go to WP Store Locator > Settings > Tools.
  2. Select the Enable compatibility mode check box.
    Enable compatibility mode
  3. Save the settings and reload the page with your store locator on it.

With compatibility mode on, WP Store Locator unregisters any other script that loads from maps.google.com or maps.googleapis.com before the page is rendered, so its own copy of the API is the one that loads.

If compatibility mode doesn’t help

Compatibility mode can only remove scripts that were added the WordPress way, with wp_enqueue_script().

It cannot remove a Google Maps script that a plugin or theme:

  • hardcodes as a script tag in a template file
  • injects with JavaScript after the page has loaded

If the conflict persists, the other plugin is almost certainly doing one of those. Your options are to keep that plugin’s map off the pages where the store locator lives, ask its author to enqueue the API properly, or deactivate it.

Two map plugins on one page

Compatibility mode solves the conflict in WP Store Locator’s favour — which means the other plugin’s map may stop working on that page. Since both plugins share a single instance of the Google Maps API, only one of them can configure it. We recommend not placing two Google Maps–based plugins on the same page at all.

Still stuck?

If the map stays broken after enabling compatibility mode, check the browser console (F12) for a different Google Maps error — an invalid key, a missing billing account or a referrer restriction produces its own message.

See Create Google API keys for those, or switch the store locator to another map service (Mapbox, OpenStreetMap or Stadia Maps) under Settings > API, which sidesteps the conflict entirely.