Data mapping made easy

Maps are a great way to make data come to life but if you don’t have the right information in the right form, creating a map can be a pain. The good news is that there are easy-to-use online tools that make map creation a snap.

Assuming your spreadsheet includes geographic information like street address, city and state, the free online tool Batchgeocode.com will add latitudes and longitudes, and pinpoint those locations on a Yahoo! map. You can then copy and paste the results back into a spreadsheet, import them into a database, or save them as a KML file to use for 3D mapping with Google Earth. But if all you want is the Yahoo! map, you can save it directly to the Web.  Simple, eh?

If you want to do more with the data, Finder! makes it relatively easy to upload and share in different formats. You have to create an account to use the site, but it’s free.

Happy mapping!

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