how do i create points on a map from grid reference data without buying programmes

away-with-the-fairies

Hi, can anyone help? I don't have ARcGIs or anything like that and only need to do this once as easily as possible.
I have 54 points in an excel table which has eastings and northings in a table. I need to be able to show these 54 locations as just a dot on a map (they are all in UK , and all within 30 miles of each other).    i have used grid reference finder which does it to a degree but i cannot get around the fact that each point must have a label which is shown as a grid ref and i cant get it to show me a name for the point. ideally i would like to show all the points on a map with a label I can toggle on/off showing a name for each point if this makes sense. I have the usual google maps or google earth but nothing more than that and don't want to pay to do a one off thing.   thanks

fenlander_uk

www.mapcustomizer.com may do what you need:

Andy_L

you can import a spreadsheet of the locations into a google map and turn labels on or off

google maps> your places> maps> create map

ETA: your lat-longa need to be decimal not deg/min/sec & are using the WGS84 datum (which is the most common so they probaly are)

Heedtheadvice

I have yet to come across a free map to do exactly what you ask, Google earth will allow lat long searches to find locations that you can then add your own label to, plus 'add in' http://nearby.org.uk/google/Gridlines.kml.pl will add osgb grid lines....

But neither do fully what you ask! Cannot imagine it cannot be done these days!

wongataa

You could manually add the points in Google Earth.

You could use the free QGIS software.

away-with-the-fairies

Thanks all. I will have a look at the suggestions and see what happens

a

Why not se the maps from /www.openstreetmap.org, use paint.net or similar to join them if you need more detail and add location on that?

KingL2

Try umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/
It is very flexible with display format for your points of interest data (you can choose labels to be permanent/mouseover, big, small).  Ignore the demo, just go straight to making the map.  It's free.

Paula_Smith

Ordnance Survey has plenty of freely available mapping at different scales.
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html
Use it with QGIS which is freely available and highly functional. 

KingL2

I've been playing with some different methods mentioned on this page (and others).  Here's a few notes in case they are useful.

I try to avoid Google as a point of principle, so maybe GoogleMaps is the easiest, I haven't tried it.  Otherwise:


batchgeo.com
This seems to be the easiest.  Just paste your table of data into the window on the website. Tell it your email address and it will email you a link to a google-pin map of your data using your datalabels plus google's base-address data; and an editable version of the map; and html code for embedding the map in a webpage, etc. You can choose whether the map is public or private

umap.openstreetmap.fr/en
Is also good. Save a (comma seperated values) csv file of your data, including column titles: lat long and names (names must all be in lowercase).  Go to the website, create a new map, click on the white (upward pointing) arrow (on the right of the map), then browse-to and upload your csv file. Voila! Use the 'cog' icon to change the size/designs of the pins and whether/how your data labels are displayed (e.g. upon-mouseover/constantly/never). You can also have other columns in your spreadsheet, they will be saved in the map-points data, but not shown on the map labels. Save the map and it will give you url for sharing and another for editing.

qgis
is free and very powerful, but because it is capable of doing _so many_ things, it is a pain-in-the-butt to learn for only a simple project.  Here is how to load-in csv data:
www.qgistutorials.com/en/docs/3/importing_spreadsheets_csv.html

..but that just gives you a bunch of dots floating in empty space. Then it's load more hassle to download files and construct a background map for your dots to sit on. The OS Map website will give you tiles for free, but you have to wait a couple of hours for them to send you an email with the download links to the ones you selected (from a complicated set of options).

Maperative
Is generally good (and allows an easy download of background maps) IF your data is in OSM (Open Street Maps) format. But I can't find a way to get it to accept users' csv inputs, or even xml (which it claims to handle).

-

Another method is to make a .KML file of your data points.  KML is a set of geomapped 'bookmarks' that can be read by mapping applications.  OP doesn't say what he wants to do with the maps (share with others, or not).  In theory, you could email your .KML file and people could just open it in their favourite mapping apps.


This method works for creating a .KML file for Marble (desktop mapping app)

1) Make a spreadsheet with columns:
B Latitude data
C Longitude data
E Names/Datalabels for your Points of Interest

2) Paste this in Cell H1:

&nbsp;="&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Placemark>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <name>"&E1&"</name>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <LookAt>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <longitude>"&C1&"</longitude>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <latitude>"&B1&"</latitude>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <altitude>0.00</altitude>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <range>6814.6051134151</range>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </LookAt>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Style>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <IconStyle>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Icon>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <href>C:/Program Files (x86)/Marble/data/bitmaps/bookmark.png</href>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Icon>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </IconStyle>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Style>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Point>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <coordinates>"&C1&","&B1&"</coordinates>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Point>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <ExtendedData>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Data name="&CHAR(34)&"isbookmark"&CHAR(34)&">|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <value>true</value>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Data>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </ExtendedData>|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Placemark>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; |" 

3) copy H1 down for as many rows as you have data.

4) Copy Column H into a MS Word document

5) In MS Word, replace the pipe symbols (|) with line-breaks by doing a Home>Editing>Replace (shortcut Cntl+h)

Field 'Find what'= |
Field 'Replace with'= ^p
Click 'Replace All'

6) Open a blank notepad/text file.

7) Paste-in this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2" xmlns:gx="http://www.google.com/kml/ext/2.2">

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Document>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <name>Bookmarks</name>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <Folder>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <name>Default</name>

8) THEN Paste-in the text from your edited MSWord document (from step (5))

9) THEN Paste in this :

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Folder>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </Document>

</kml>

10) Save the text file

11) Change its file extension to .KML

12) (windows OS) Right-click your file and Open-With your Marble application (you might have to navigate to where the Marble.exe is on your machine.

Then Marble will open with all your points, geomapped (Zoom-in to the relevant area of the map).  You can easily export/print it all to .jpg from Marble.

The stylesheets for Marble uses nice small fonts, so I find this one the the most useful, as many others have bigger fonts which make the labels all crash-into one another.

The formula above was written by me, based on the format of the Marble export from my 'bookmarks' folder.
Err, I don't know what this term does : 
<range>6814.6051134151</range>
but it doesn't seem to cause any problems. 

Note that the code uses the 'map-pin' (star) icon at C:/Program Files (x86)/Marble/data/bitmaps/bookmark.png
if you have Marble installed in a different directory, you'll need to change that.

Also, I guess it means that these KMLs won't fully work in apps other than Marble. 

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This, apparently, makes generic .KML files from spreadsheet data :
www.wwu.edu/huxley/spatial/tut/google_kml_ex.htm
(but I haven't tried it).
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And this one for GoogleEarth:
helpwiki.evergreen.edu/wiki/index.php/Creating_KML_Files
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any other tips welcome