Put your spreadsheet locations on one map

A list of addresses or coordinates is hard to picture in a spreadsheet. Import it into Draw on a Map and every row becomes a marker, with its notes and other columns still attached. You can try this without an account.

Start with the sample file below. It has five stops in central Paris, each with coordinates, a color, and a note.

Download the sample CSV

Prepare your spreadsheet

Put column names in the first row. Add one location per row below it. Use separate latitude and longitude columns with WGS84 decimal degrees, as in this sample:

name,latitude,longitude,color,notes
West stop,48.8629,2.2870,#2563eb,Example meeting point
Tower stop,48.8584,2.2945,#2563eb,Example photo stop
Garden stop,48.8560,2.3125,#16a34a,Example rest stop
River stop,48.8637,2.3212,#16a34a,Example pickup point
Museum stop,48.8606,2.3376,#9333ea,Example final stop

name becomes the marker label. color sets the marker color and needs a six-digit code such as #2563eb. Every other column, such as notes, stays with its marker.

Save your file as CSV, TSV, or XLSX. For an older .xls file, save a copy as .xlsx first.

Street addresses instead of coordinates

Use one full address column, or separate street, city, postcode, and country columns. The importer finds these columns and looks up the addresses. Clear matches are selected for you, and the rest are listed for review. Address lookup works for up to 100 rows per file.

If a column was missed or every row is in the same city, use Change columns or set a city. You can edit an address and search again. Rows without a selected match are skipped, and you can download them to fix later. Lookup progress is kept in the same browser tab for 24 hours. After a reload, choose the same file to pick up where you left off.

Files that already contain geometry can use a WKT column instead.

Import the sample

1. Open Draw on a Map.
2. Select Import / Export in the toolbar, then Import data file.
3. Select Choose files and pick paris-locations.csv. You can also drop the file onto the dialog.

The Check your locations dialog opens. For an Excel workbook with several sheets, choose the sheet with your locations first.

Check the columns and preview

The importer reads the column names and shows which ones it used. For the sample it says Using latitude, longitude, and the preview map shows all five stops.

If it picked the wrong columns, open Change columns:

• Location type switches between latitude and longitude, WKT geometry, and addresses.
• Latitude and Longitude choose the coordinate columns.
• Optional settings holds Label, Color, Route or group, and Route order.

The sample already has Label set to name and Color set to color. Route or group is Not used, so each row becomes its own marker. To join rows into a line, set a route column and an order column.

Open Inspect data to see the rows. The footer should say Ready to import: 5. Select Add to map.

The five stops are now in their own data layer. Check that each one is where you expect.

Check the stored notes

1. Select Layers.
2. Open the imported layer’s More actions menu.
3. Select View data.
4. Check that the five rows include the notes column.

Cell colors and other spreadsheet formatting do not carry over. Use a color column to set marker colors.

Save or export your map

Select Save to account and sign in to keep the map. On the free plan, a map can save one data layer with up to 1,000 features. Pro saves more layers and larger ones.

To send an interactive map, save it first, then select Share. Share links are free. Open the link yourself to see what the recipient will see.

To put the map in a document, open Import / Export and choose Image for a PNG or Print or save as PDF. Free downloads have a watermark. A one-time purchase or Pro removes it.

To move the location data to another map tool, use Export GeoJSON in the imported layer’s menu.

If your file does not import

• If the preview shows skipped rows, check for empty coordinates or text in the coordinate columns. Latitude must be between -90 and 90. Longitude must be between -180 and 180.
• If locations appear in the wrong place, check that latitude and longitude are not reversed. Use decimal degrees, not projected meter coordinates.
• If an address needs review, check the house number and locality. Add a shared city or country under Change columns or set a city when those values are missing.
• If the file is larger than 15 MB or has more than 50,000 rows in a sheet, split it into smaller files.
• If an Excel workbook cannot be read, save the location sheet as CSV and try again. Workbooks with many sheets, images, or styles can hit internal size limits even when the file is under 15 MB.

Keep your original spreadsheet until you have checked the imported locations and notes.

Import your spreadsheet

Related guides

• Move an existing Google My Maps map
• Compare simple business maps with Maptive
• Put your finished map on a website