Platial Tip: Bulk Upload

One of the most useful features we have on Platial is the option to map many places at one time, using the bulk upload tool. Here's all you need to know to get started using this great tool.

It's a good idea to start by putting together your file. You can use this template file to get started. Here is what the file looks like:

• Be careful with the addresses. You have greater chances for success if you avoid street numbers like "18A". Just "18" alone has a much better chance of landing on the map. Of course, PO boxes cannot be mapped. Do not put both an address and a lat long. One or the other works much better. If you are adding places using zip codes, don't forget to put the name of the country, too.
• The url field will add a link to your post. Be sure you include the "http://" in front of your url. This also goes for the image column. YOu can add one picture per place via bulk upload, using an image url. To get an image url, the picture you want to use has to be online somewhere, like on a photo-sharing site. Put your cursor on top of the picture, right click or control click, and choose "copy image location." Then you can just paste that url into the image column of your file.
• Tags have the be separated by commas. You can add as many tags as you want.
• You can add Youtube videos or other fancy html to the places' descriptions via bulk. Just put the whole thing in the "description" column.
• In the category column you must put one of the following, and only one, for each place: food, lodging, house, wild, punk, nature, activism, plain, culture, family, shopping, coffee, recreation, health. Be careful of spelling mistakes here!

Now that you have your file all ready to go, you will have to set up your map. Just click on "make a map" in the upper right to get started. You will give the map a title and starting location and tweak all the settings. Unfortunately, the bulk upload tool cannot do custom categories at this time.

After you have your map all set up, you will click on "Add a Marker" to get to the bulk upload link in the add place panel.

You will be invited to upload the file from your computer. If the file is the right kind of file, you will get a success message. This doesn't mean that all of the places have landed successfully on the map. The upload does still have to be processed. The bigger the file, the longer that process will take. When the bulk uploader is finished, you will get an email. If some of the places did not make it onto the map, the email will tell you so. You can then try correcting your file and putting it through again.

One thing to note: The bulk upload tool does not handle accented characters very smoothly. It is best to leave out the accents if you can.