Spreadsheet Mapper 2.0

I’ve made some posts about getting data into Google Maps/Earth, but I don’t think I’ve hit on this one yet.



Spreadsheet Mapper 2.0 is an easy to use Google Docs based KML placemark generation tool. Which is a long way of saying it’s a Google Docs spreadsheet that will take point locations you enter and render it as KML for use in Google Maps or Google Earth. No fancy science here - it’s a series of rules and formulas in a Google Docs spreadsheet. It has six different balloon designs for your popups, including fields for images, titles, subtitles, links, and paragraphs. You can even put in a location rather than a coordinate if you don’t run around with Lat Long numbers floating in your head and the spreadsheet will try to look it up on Google Maps. An error checker field will let you know if you made a mistake or left a required field empty. After you’re done, publish the spreadsheet, copy the networked-linked KML file, and drop it in your Google Maps application or into Google Earth.

The tutorial site has detailed instructions and a video showing you how to use Spreadsheet Mapper. Because it’s based on Google Docs, it will require a Google account, but that’s also part of the benefit. You can share the doc for editing with anybody you wish, it’s always up to date, and because it’s basically a spreadsheet you don’t need a spatial astronaut to use it.

If you need a quick way to get some markers into KML and maintain the data in an easy and efficient manner, Spreadsheet Mapper is worth looking into.