Professional Mapping Oppos?

[Jarrett]

I do some mapping for work, and I've been met with an interesting challenge.

I'm trying to find a mapping tool (preferably free) that would take a data import that looks like this and map out a pile of A-->B runs:

(where the Starting Depot and Ending Locations are both complete addresses)

Google does support this, but I have to do them all by hand (I can only import 1 set of long-lats). Has anyone ever done something like this?

[jminer]

@jarrett I'd think you could do it with a Google maps API key.

Paging @BicycleBuck though since he does this for a living. Edit - he's more GIS mapping, but may still have some insight.

[Jarrett]

@jminer I'll have to look into the API. Hopefully it doesn't involve actual technical knowledge haha.

[BicycleBuck]

@jarrett

You can do this with a series of programming calls to the API.

Or you can cheat.

Since you have Excel, you can build a hyperlink to Google maps. It needs to take the following format:

"https://www.google.com/maps/dir/LatLong1/LatLong2

for example:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/30.44351448337357,+-91.19010575246273/30.41804353150177,+-91.14274871855275

I'll assume your sample is with "Starting Depot" in cell A1. Use concatenate to cobble together the hyperlink something like this:

=concatenate("https://www.google.com/maps/dir/"&B2&",+"&C2&"/"&E2&","F2)

That should build a link that you can click on.

If you need to download the results, then you'll need to dig into the API.

[Jarrett]

@bicyclebuck That's a neat trick with the hyperlinking! My goal is to show all of them on the map at once, so I'll do a deeper dive into the API calls (I have ~100 I want to show on the map all at the same time)

[orneryduck]

We use Google Earth Pro to track fiber, which allows importation via a CSV.

https://support.google.com/earth/answer/176685?hl=en

[Jarrett]

@orneryduck This is what I initially tried, but I couldn't do a start-point --> end-point import

[BicycleBuck]

@jarrett said in Professional Mapping Oppos?:

@bicyclebuck That's a neat trick with the hyperlinking! My goal is to show all of them on the map at once, so I'll do a deeper dive into the API calls (I have ~100 I want to show on the map all at the same time)

You can add each route to your maps or you'll have to do some digging into the API.

[MattHurting]

QGIS is a free open source software that should have this capability. I've not done what you're trying to do, but I suspect it's available there.

[davesaddiction]

@jarrett

You should be able to route in Google Earth, save each as a KML, and then show all at once. Not sure the best way to automate for a large number of routes.