I would like to begin a series of “Maps for the Classroom: How To” blog posts that will share with readers different tips, trips, and tools that educators can use with little to no training to visualize spatial data.

The first tool I would like to highlight is called BatchGeo. In CURVE this week, we had a student who came in and wanted to learn more about how to bring a spreadsheet of addresses into the ArcGIS environment. Well, as is not unusual for ArcMap, we ran into challenges when the geocode address tool kept giving us an error message. But never fear! BatchGeo is here!

BatchGeo is a website that generates point based maps from Excel spreadsheets.  Let me provide a little overview of the workflow this site:

First thing to do is organize your spreadsheet in a way that allows BatchGeo to “talk” to the information.  I suggest making column headers such as “Address” ,”City” ,”State” and “Zip Code”. You can also add additional information (some examples may be the name of the location or contact information for a business you’re representing)-this information will be displayed whenever you click on that location on your soon to be created map. When you’ve finished organizing all your information-all you have to do is copy and paste your spreadsheet into the box at the top of BatchGeo’s webpage.  Then hit the “Validate & Set Options” button.    BatchGeo typically is able to automatically detect which column is which, but to make sure it didn’t make any mistakes go through and see that, for example, the header you put on your address column shows next to “Location/Address”

Once everything is set-hit the “Make Map” button and a typical Google map will be populated with markers that represent the addresses from your spreadsheet. From there you can “save and continue”-then enter an email address to which you will be sent a link that allows you to return to this map.

The reason that I am partial to this tool is that, if you scroll to the bottom of page your map is on, you have the option of exporting the map as a KML file-which is the file type used in Google Earth. Within Google Earth you have the ability to create tours that fly from location to location for an engaging viewing experience. This could provide a unique addition to a lecture.

Even more than that-there is a tool in Esri’s ArcMap that allows you to convert KML to a layer. These layers can then be use for more advanced analysis.

BatchGeo offers a simple way, not only to visualize points, but to use these points in additional platforms. This flexibility, as it proved for one visitor to CURVE this week, provides the GSU community a gateway to interdisciplinary spatial research.