In order to ensure your spreadsheet is geocoded properly, you need to check three things before uploading: whether it has headers, formatting the addresses or coordinates consistently in either single column or multiple-column format, and including country (if geocoding Canadian addresses).
You can upload .xls, .xlsx, .csv, .tsv, and .zip files for geocoding. Download a sample list: .XLSX (shows all acceptable formats), .CSV (shows multiple-column format only).
When you upload a file, we only add columns -- we won't delete any information from your spreadsheet. You can see an example geocoded file here.
Data quality
Your addresses do not need to be complete. They just need to be formatted the same way (i.e. either single column or multiple column) with any of the following combinations of data:
Street address, city, state, zip/postal code [+ 'Canada' for Canada]
Street address, zip/postal code [+ 'Canada' for Canada]
Street address, city, state/province [+ 'Canada' for Canada]
city, state/province [+ 'Canada' for Canada]
zip/postal code [+ 'Canada' for Canada]
Spreadsheet Geocoding Formats
If you do not have data for a certain field (like ZIP), you can just leave that blank.
Multiple-Column Format with Addresses
Street
City
State/Province
ZIP
Country
1785 Military rd
Niagara Falls
NY
14304
323 Yonge St
Toronto
Ontario
Canada
1432 Mackay street
H3G 2H7
Canada
146 south Main street
01949
3211 wilson boulevard
arlington
va
8421 NY-89
Interlaken
NY
14847
United States
29042
Single-Column Format with Addresses
Address
323 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M5B 1R7, Canada
1432 Mackay St, H3G 2H7, Canada
1785 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY 14304
3211 Wilson boulevard, arlington va
8421 NY-89, 14847
H3G 2H7
29042
Multiple-Column Format with Latitude/Longitude Coordinates
Latitude
Longitude
43.65687
-79.380951
38.885496990291685
-77.09966660383554
Single-Column Format with Latitude/Longitude Coordinates
Latitude/Longitude
43.65687,-79.380951
38.885496990291685, -77.09966660383554
1. Make sure your spreadsheet has headers
You can name the header columns anything you like
During the upload process, you'll get to choose which columns contain the address components.
Street
City
State
ZIP
Country
Address
Latitude
Longitude
Latitude/Longitude
2. Consistently format the addresses in one column or multiple columns
You can put the address in a single column or split the address into separate columns
The street number and name must be in the same column
If your spreadsheet includes addresses in both formats, you will need to split them into different lists
Acceptable format: multiple-column
Address data (street, city, state, ZIP) are split into multiple columns, and all addresses are formatted in the same way.
Street
City
State
ZIP
Country
1785 Military Rd
Niagara Falls
NY
14304
323 Yonge St
Toronto
Ontario
Canada
740 S Meadow St
14850
2204 W 12th St
Erie
PA
Acceptable format: single-column
All of the address data is in a single cell, and all addresses are formatted the same way.
Address
323 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M5B 1R7, Canada
1785 Military Road, Niagara Falls, NY 14304
NOT acceptable: Mixed format
Some addresses are formatted in a single cell, and some are spread across multiple cells. This would not process correctly. If your spreadsheet looks like this, you should split it into two spreadsheets. You can do this by filtering for addresses that have a blank second column and copy/pasting them into another spreadsheet.
Address
435 S Van Buren St, Shipshewana, IN 46565
1785 Military Rd
Niagara Falls
NY
14304
3. If your spreadsheet includes addresses in Canada, include a country column or "Canada" exactly
With Canadian addresses, a Country column must be present and it needs to say "Canada" exactly (no abbreviations)
If no country is given, USA will be assumed
Note that you may input postal codes, but full postal codes will not be returned as they are proprietary to Canada Post.