How 2 ... Plot addresses on Google map

Etan Horowitz | Sentinel Staff Writer

August 24, 2008

A free program called "map a list" lets you take a list of addresses and easily plot them on a Google map, which could be helpful if you were planning a party and wanted to see where most of the people you invite live.

1. Go to mapalist.com and click on "Sign Up!" Fill out the fields and click "Submit Registration." Once your account has been successfully created, click "Continue."

2. If you already have a Gmail or Google account, select the first option and click "Continue." If not, follow the instructions to create an account and click "Continue." When you are prompted with the "Access Request," click "Grant access."

3. To use map a list, you need to have your address list stored in a Google spreadsheet. If you have an address list in a Microsoft Excel file, you can convert it to a Google spreadsheet by logging into Google Docs (docs.google.com) and clicking "Upload" to locate and upload your Excel file. If you do not yet have an address list spreadsheet, create one in Google Docs by clicking "New" and choosing "Spreadsheet." For each address, enter all the geographic information in one cell (street address, city, state, ZIP code, etc).

4. Follow the instructions to choose your map source from your list of Google spreadsheets. You may have to make some changes if the program can't figure out which fields from your Google spreadsheet contain the addresses to plot. You can also choose which columns from your Google spreadsheet should be used to display information on the map points (such as guest names). Continue making any necessary adjustments and proceeding through the setup. When you are finishing making adjustments, click "Save & View Map."

5. Your map has been created and displayed below. You can click "Share Map" at the bottom to e-mail Web address or get the embed code so you can post it on a blog or Web site. To add or update addresses on your map, log into the Google spreadsheet to make changes, which will update your map every hour.