Mapping Sheets add-on Preferences

General

The header in all the sections includes four buttons:

• a Save button to save all your Preferences for the current spreadsheet

• a Help button that would bring you to this page

• a Star for to rate and review the Mapping Sheets add-onIf we have not earned a 5-star rating, please let us know how can we improve

• a 3-line menu button to access each section, it opens on mouse-over

• Also,

• The Beta program would give you access to new, advanced and experimental features, only in those Google Spreadsheets from where you enrol. You will keep using the stable version in any other Spreadsheet.

• The Mapping 4.0 opt-in is an option to manage the deployment of this new version, first by invitation only, then upon request, until opt-in for all and finally by default

• The schedule will be announced as available on loading the add-on

• As the legend indicates Premium features are marked as (+)

Document

This section includes some options related with your current datasheet and the way the add-on will process your data into a map

• The Unattended BUILD allows to update your map automatically when the data has changed in your datasheet. See more details on this post.

• The "data headers row index" is the row number in your sheet where the headers are (the default and most common value is 1)

• Get data as displayed will respect the general format of each cell in the datasheet

• The "template for Location header" would allow for multi-column address using headers as {{placeholder}}. See more details on this post.

Filters

This section is all about filtering and the sidebar

• Enable search and restrict the searching to a group of headers (csv)

• You need to set the number of additional filters you want to use on each map, ahead of assigning them from the add-on sidebar

• Additionally, you can decide on a few options

  • Show the number of locations that includes each specific filter values (only applies to checkbox filters including the main filter)

  • Expand the panels in the sidebar on loading, starting with main filter (csv)

  • Multi-value separator is very useful when the locations might have several values under a specific column (usually a single comma or comma-space)

• Enable sidebar (default value), if disabled there won't be any filtering nor sidebar

• Sidebar collapsed would hide the sidebar when the map loads in the browser

Learn more about Filtering on this page

Map

• Find a place would show the matches for what you type on an input box and when you select a place from that list, it would place a marker on the map for that location, center the map around that place and show a circle around on a click

  • The default values for the circle radius and unit to be used on your map

  • You can change the value for the radius directly on the map

  • Viewport enabled will restrict the place search to the current map view

  • Optionally, you can filter out any location outside that circle around the place

• Enter the app title to show in the browser (tab) title

• Center on a click would pan the map to a new position with centre where you clicked. It might be useful in some specific scenarios, but not in others

• Select the map controls you want to show in your map

• Select the map types (styles) to have, the first you choose will be the default

• The styled map definition would create an extra custom styled map appearance, available for you to choose. Find more details on this post

Icons

• Icon set are the shape of icons that would apply to each location in the map

  • Icon shape, Icon size and other options allow for further customization of your icons, as explained on this post

  • Draggable icons is for backward compatibility and extended custom options.

  • Overlapping feature, when selected, it will spread out too close icons in the map on a click, useful when several icons share the same coordinates in the map.

• Icon title is the small text tool-tip that shows up when you mouse over an icon

• Clusters is a way to improve performance and usability by grouping close icons (locations) in a cluster, particularly for a large number of locations

  • Cluster size is the minimum number of icons that would cluster together

  • Cluster zoom is the maximum zoom that would show clusters

  • The optimal combination of cluster's size and zoom would depend on the specific number of icons and distribution

  • Cluster toggle is a button in the filters section that will toggle on and off the clusters. It's very useful when you have already zoomed in your target area, to show all the individual icons. It's not recommended to toggle off, if still showing a large number of locations in clusters, because of performance

Infowindow

• Enable the Infowindow and set the headers to show, as a CSV list

• The data under headers using markdown (csv) will render as html content

• Enable Markdown allows to set your own markdown template content

  • Click the pencil button to edit the markdown template (more on next section)

• Infowindow dimensions (width and height) allow to set the Infowindow size

  • If Lock is unchecked the height would grow as required up to that height, otherwise the height will be fixed at that value

• Directions link would open the official Google Maps app in Directions mode ready for you to set the starting point

• Zoom link would zoom in the map with center in the selected location

• Buttons position sets the buttons strip at the bottom or at the top (header)

• Link text (formerly ...⬈) provides a custom text to anchor the links in the standard Infowindow, by default (if empty) it would only show the small square-arrow link

Editing the Infowindow markdown content template with realtime view

• Left section is a text area editor for the markdown template

• Right section renders the markdown (as html) as you edit the template on the left

  • It would use the Infowindow width/height/lock you set up before

• Insert {{header-name}} placeholders to show content from your first data row

• Preserve line-breaks (\n) in data option is just for backward compatibility

• Left arrow button will bring you back to the Infowindow section

  • You can also use the top 3-line menu button for navigation

Learn more about using Markdown for content template on this post

Listing

• Enable Listing to show a right sidebar with information for the filtered locations

• Enter a content template for each item in the list as plain text with placeholders

  • Or lick the pencil button to edit as markdown template (more on next section)

• Set the width for the listing right sidebar

• Enable the (✜) anchor to open the location Infowindow

• Enable the export Listing content to a new tab

  • Include a view Directions @ Google Maps link in that new tab

  • That listing in a new tab will include a button to save the content as html file

• Enable the export Listing locations as a CSV file, ready for Google Sheets or else

  • It will include all the original headers from your datasheet

Editing the Listing markdown content template with realtime view

• Left section is a text area editor for the markdown template

• Right section renders the markdown (as html) as you edit the template on the left

  • It would use the Listing width you set up before

• Insert {{header-name}} placeholders to show content from your first data row

• Preserve line-breaks (\n) in data option is just for backward compatibility

• Left arrow button will bring you back to the Listing section

  • You can also use the top 3-line menu button for navigation

Learn more about using Markdown for content template on this post

Routing

First, you have to enable the Optimal Routing feature, to show and set the options

• Enable First to Last allows to select First and Last stops (origin and destination) in the optimal route from the Listing

• Enable Homebase allows for routes that starts and/or ends in an specified place

  • If entering a specific valid address, you must click the right-arrow button to calculate the corresponding latitude and longitude

  • Otherwise you should enter a valid pair of comma separated latitude and longitude values

  • Also, you can set the Homebase draggable around the map and always visible

• Select the travelling mode (bicycling, driving, walking)

• Select the unit system (imperial, metric) for your route

• As well as setting restrictions to avoid highways, tolls and ferries in your route

• There are other options to control what routes details to show and for the directions details panel

Check more details on the Optimal Routing page

Layers

Custom Layers feature is still under development, just adding a few layers with minimum essential settings

• Even though the Layers setting are under Preferences, we are documenting this feature in a separate page for more extended details and consistency

• See more details on this dedicated page for adding Custom Layers to your map.

What's next?

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