Media handling

Is there any way to have GeoDirectory use the WP media handler for featured image choices? I understand that there is a benefit to having one area to handle both the featured image and also the slideshow images. But, it comes with a cost of having to upload new every single time you want to add an image, even if it is already in the system.

We use GD for directories for towns and cities, and it is getting to the point where cities are wanting alternatives to GeoDirectory. One of the primary reasons is media handling. If you import and use the same image, it will clone it for every single entry that uses it, even if the filename is exactly the same. We also ran into the issue where if you remove an image that was the same as another record, it will remove them both.

I am hoping there could be a better way to handle media. I know WordPress’s media handling stinks, to say the least, so you don’t have much to work with, but is there any way to help make it a little easier to work with? I am not asking that you re-invent media handling for WordPress, but instead look at different user case scenarios for how people are working with directories and media.

One possible solution for importing and duplicates – if an import includes a url, it does not add another instance of the image. If it just includes a filename, it adds it to the media library.

Secondly, add a button to choose featured images and slideshows from existing media library assets. It is cool that one can choose a single image and have it handle it for featured and slideshow, but for some, it is not worth the massive library that it creates.

I still have to figure out how to remove several thousand images from imports that were done without knowing it was creating new images every time. My fear is that I am going to have to remove all directory images and restart the entire process over. I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through that.