Training pills — Ep 9. — Geolocation with Google Maps
In this pill you will learn to monitor routes in a faster and easier way. Stay in control of the schedules and let the optimizer do the hard work.


By Routal Team
Operations and product specialists focused on practical logistics content. LinkedIn
We know how hard your day to day is. Planning routes is a tedious job that requires a lot of concentration and experience. From Routal.com we want to help you, that's why we launched a series of training pills to help you improve day by day. Our goal is for you to plan better, faster and more successfully. Shall we start?
In this pill we are going to teach you How to geolocate addresses of your customers through the map provider Google Maps. To this end, we have developed a add-on for Google Spreadsheet with which you can geolocate up to 3,500 addresses daily in an easy and fast way.
In previous pills we were seeing how to improve the quality of the results (Ep. 3 Address Geocoding) and how to extract coordinates from Google Maps to be able to include them in any service on the platform. Today we will see how extract addresses in bulk to be able to improve the data quality of our service file.
The first thing is to have a free account of Gmail. Once we have the account, we can access to create a new document of Google Sheets. Once we create a new document, we simply have to go to Add-ons > Download Add-ons and in the search engine put: Geocoding by SmartMonkey. The next step is simply to install the add-on and give it the necessary permissions.
With this small process, we will have installed the add-on that we can use very easily and quickly. Let's see how to use it.
The first time we install the plugin, it will create a new page in our document called Geocoding. If we wanted to create this template in any other document, we just have to go to the Spreadsheets options, Add-ons > Geocoding by SmartMonkey > Create Template.
At this point we will have the template created. You will simply have to Fill in the addresses that you want to geolocate in column A (Address) and specify the country. You'll have to follow the naming of domains. Here are some examples:
Spain: es Mexico: mx Argentina: ar Chile: cl Colombia: co United States: us
The next step is to geolocate. To do this, we have to click on the menu of Add-ons > Geocode by SmartMonkey > Geocode. In a few seconds, the result will appear in column C with which we can simply copy and paste it into our Excel file to be used in Highway.
In the following video I show you what the entire process is like, from installation to use on Highway.
We hope it was useful and we look forward to seeing you next week with more pills to improve your daily efficiency!
By Routal Team
Operations and product specialists focused on practical logistics content. LinkedIn
Topics
PillRelated articles
Summer demand peaks: how to scale your delivery without buying more vans
Demand's up 30% in summer and the easy answer is to rent two more vans. But an extra van in August is an idle van in October. There's almost always hidden capacity in the routes you already have. Here's how to unlock it before spending on more fleet.
By Routal Team
Impossible time windows: delivering in tourist areas and summer events without losing efficiency
The customer wants their time slot and you want an efficient route. In summer, with events, fairs, and closed streets, those two things seem impossible at once. But choosing between meeting the window or not losing kilometers is a false dilemma. Here's how to do both.
By Routal Team
Low Emission Zones in tourist cities: delivering in packed historic centers without fines
Low emission zones are no longer just two big cities' business: they're mandatory in many municipalities, and in summer tourist centers fill with cameras, closed streets, and restrictions. You don't see the fine: it arrives weeks later. Here's how to deliver in an LEZ without scares.
By Routal Team
Less firefighting. More daily control.
Or if you prefer, book a personalized demo with an expert.


