# Locations Plugin 🌍

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/locations-plugin/69742
**Category:** Plugin
**Tags:** paid-support
**Created:** [September 10, 2017, 10:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/locations-plugin/69742 "2017-09-10T10:36:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1237

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![nathank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/nathank/32/290039_2.png) [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2026, 4:21am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/locations-plugin/69742/1237 "2026-05-06T04:21:59Z")

</div>

I’ve just been implementing the awesome Automated User Location Determination, which involves configuring Maxmind properly. This was on a new instance.

The new app.yml is lovely and lean, but doesn’t include the Maxmind ENV variables as a comment any more.

If this is to be more accessible to less confident self-hosting sysadmins, we might need a clear explainer - and to point them to this topic:

> [@Configure MAXMIND for reverse IP lookups](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configure-maxmind-for-reverse-ip-lookups/173941):
>
> What is MAXMIND and why would I want it? Discourse uses [MAXMIND](https://www.maxmind.com/en/home) to provide geographical information for reverse IP lookups. Without Maxmind’s database you’ll see something like this: Or perhaps you’ve noticed this message fly by when you rebuild your container: MaxMind IP database download requires an account ID and a license key Please set DISCOURSE\_MAXMIND\_ACCOUNT\_ID and DISCOURSE\_MAXMIND\_LICENSE\_KEY. See https://meta.discourse.org/t/configure-maxmind-for-reverse…

* * *

### Also - a minor UX thing

An unwanted (by me anyway) link to the map pops up on the sidebar, and this isn’t governed by any settings. I’ve hidden it thus:

```scss
// hide the users map link
.sidebar-sections li[data-list-item-name="users map"] {
    display: none;
}

```

Perhaps it is time to deprecate both this and the (setting controlled) topic map link? These can now easily be added via the standard UI if the admin wishes to have them.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/locations-plugin/69742)._