Google Sheets

Connect Google Sheets to import spreadsheet data into Atlas. Supports public URLs and private spreadsheets from Google Drive. Data syncs automatically on a schedule.

Connect to Google Sheets

1. Click Add data in the Layers panel
2. Go to the Connections tab
3. Select Google Sheets
4. Enter a public URL or select from Google Drive
5. Click Connect

Connection Methods

Public URL

Paste any public Google Sheets URL. The spreadsheet must have link sharing enabled:

1. Open your spreadsheet in Google Sheets
2. Click Share → Change to anyone with the link
3. Set permission to Viewer
4. Copy and paste the URL into Atlas

URL format: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/<SPREADSHEET_ID>/...

Google Drive

Select private spreadsheets directly from your Google Drive:

1. Click Select from Google Drive
2. Sign in to your Google account
3. Browse or search for spreadsheets
4. Select one or more files and click Select

You can select multiple spreadsheets at once to create several connections.

Working with Data

After connecting, Atlas imports the spreadsheet as a dataset. If your data contains location columns (addresses, coordinates, place names), Atlas maps them automatically.

Sync Settings

Connected spreadsheets sync automatically. Configure sync intervals in Layer Settings to keep your data up to date when the source spreadsheet changes.

Smart Sync (merge on key)

By default, each sync replaces all rows in the dataset. Smart Sync instead merges incoming rows onto a unique key column, preserving any manual edits, geocoding, and geometry you have added in Atlas between syncs.

To enable Smart Sync when importing a spreadsheet:

1. In the import dialog, open Data sync settings.
2. Select a Unique key column — the column whose values identify each row.
3. Complete the import. Future syncs will merge rows on that key rather than replacing the dataset.

Rows deleted from the spreadsheet are removed from the map on the next sync.

Editing Data

Connected datasets are read-only in Atlas — you cannot edit the rows or cells of a dataset that is linked to a Google Sheet. If you need to make edits:

1. Open the dataset's three-dot menu and choose Copy dataset to create an editable, standalone copy in Atlas.
2. Make your edits to the copy.
3. Use Update dataset on the copy to re-import fresh rows from the same source later without losing your changes.

To edit the original data, open the spreadsheet directly in Google Sheets and let the next sync pull the changes into Atlas.

Known Limitations

Multi-line cell text

Google Sheets cells can contain line breaks (inserted with Alt + Enter). When this data is imported into Atlas, all text in a cell is joined into a single line — the line breaks are not preserved in the data table or map labels. If your data relies on line-level formatting inside a cell, consider splitting it into separate columns.

Hyperlinks

Google Sheets supports cells where the display text differs from the underlying URL (e.g., a cell that shows "View property" but links to a long URL). Atlas imports only the raw URL; the display label is not carried over.

Troubleshooting