How to map addresses from an Excel spreadsheet
Excel's own map charts shade whole regions, not street addresses. Here are the three ways people put a customer list on a map, what each is good for, and how to turn the map into a route.
- Free for up to 50 addresses
- No credit card
- No app to install
The short answer
Updated
To map addresses from Excel, upload the file to a tool that looks up each address and drops a pin. Google My Maps does this free for up to 2,000 rows per import but doesn't plan routes, and Excel's own map charts only shade regions such as countries or states. Lite Route Planner imports .xlsx, .xls and .csv files (or cells pasted from Excel), pins every address, flags any it can't place, and can put them in driving order with up to 500 stops on a route. Free for up to 50 addresses, with no credit card.
Three ways to map an Excel list
All three start from a spreadsheet. They differ in what they do with it once it's on the map.
| Feature | Lite | Google My Maps | Excel map charts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puts a pin on each street address | Yes | Yes | Shades regions only |
| How many addresses | 50 free, up to 10,000 on paid plans | 2,000 rows per import, 10 layers | Not applicable |
| Keeps your other columns | Yes | Yes | One value per region |
| Draws a driving route | Up to 500 stops | 10 points per layer | No |
| Puts stops in the best order | Yes | No | No |
| Price | Free for up to 50 addresses | Free with a Google account | Part of Excel |
Google My Maps limits checked October 19, 2026 against Google's help pages. Excel map charts compare values across regions; they don't place pins at street addresses.
Excel map charts and Google My Maps
Excel's map charts (the Filled Map chart type) color countries, states and other regions by a number in your sheet. They're good for a sales-by-state slide. They won't show you that three customers sit on the same street, because they never place an individual address.
When people search for how to import Excel into Google Maps, the answer is Google My Maps, a separate Google tool. The Google Maps app itself doesn't import spreadsheets. In My Maps, create a new map, click Import under the first layer, upload your .xlsx or .csv (or pick a Google Sheet), choose the columns that make up the address, then choose a column, such as the customer name, to title each pin.
My Maps takes up to 2,000 rows per import and up to 10 layers per map. It can draw directions, but only with up to 10 points per layer, and it keeps them in the order you add them. It never reorders stops for a shorter drive. For a map you'll share or embed once, that's all you need. For a list you'll drive, it's where the work starts.
How to map addresses from Excel with Lite
The same steps work for a CSV export, a Google Sheet or cells copied straight out of Excel.
- 1
Check the address columns
Use one column for the whole address, or split it into street, city, state and ZIP. Either works. Delete subtotal rows and any notes typed under the list.
- 2
Upload the file or paste the cells
Make a free account, choose Add stops, and drop in the .xlsx, .xls, .csv or .tsv file. Or select the cells in Excel, copy them, and paste them into Lite.
- 3
Confirm which columns are the address
Lite marks the columns that look like an address, from headers such as Street, City, State and Zip. Switch any column between Address and Skip, and tick First row is column titles if your sheet has headers.
- 4
Fix the addresses it couldn't place
Every address is looked up and pinned. Any it couldn't find is marked Not found: edit the text, type coordinates, place it on the map by hand, or leave it out.
- 5
Bring in the columns you'll want later
Tick the other columns to keep, such as customer name, service type or last visit. Each becomes a custom field: text, a number, a date or yes/no.
- 6
Color, filter or route
Color the pins by any field, filter to the ones you need, or lasso a group and press Optimize to put it in driving order.
One address column works too
You don't need to split the address. Here's a distributor's account list with the full address in a single cell.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
| 1 | Account | Address | Territory | Last order | Annual sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Riverside Market | 418 Front St, Marietta, OH 45750 | East | 9/22/2026 | $48,200 |
| 3 | Hilltop Hardware | 77 Elm St, Athens, OH 45701 | East | 8/30/2026 | $31,750 |
| 4 | Carver Feed & Seed | 2051 Old State Rd, Lancaster, OH 43130 | Central | 10/2/2026 | $62,900 |
| 5 | Blue Door Cafe | 9 Court St, Logan, OH 43138 | Central | 7/14/2026 | $12,400 |
| 6 | Lakeview Grocery | 1340 Lake Rd, Zanesville, OH 43701 | North | 9/9/2026 | $27,050 |
Territory comes in as text, Last order as a date and Annual sales as a number (the dollar signs and commas are read for you), so you can color the map by any of them.
Which one should you use?
Choose Lite if
- You want the addresses in driving order, not just on a map
- The list changes and you'll map it again next week: saved addresses are reused for unlimited routes
- You want to color pins by a column or see who you haven't visited lately
- Someone else will drive the stops and needs them on their phone
Choose Google My Maps if
- You need a one-off map to share or embed on a website
- Your list fits in 2,000 rows per layer and you don't need routes
- You want to draw your own lines, shapes and notes on the map
- Everyone who'll look at it already works in Google's apps