Is there any way to use data from a Google sheet as the input for a Google Map scrape?
Use case: I have a Google sheet with a list of suburbs for which I want to run a query on e.g. guest house in [suburb]. I’d like the scraper to run a query for each suburb listed in the Google sheet and return all the Google Map results it finds.
No it can’t be used as a data source. You need to copy and paste what you need into SCM text box.
But it can write out the data into your sheet.
May I submit a feature request or is it too big an ask. 
Couple of things need to be worked out.
You would need to select a worksheet, then a sheet, then tell scm the data range.
To select worksheet it would open a browser window.
Then you can select a drop down for sheets.
For data range, might require you type it in. There wouldn’t be any ui based selector for it since scm doesn’t have a spreadsheet ui.
Not sure if Google provides a range selector window, will need to research it.
Then SCM can download that data and prefill the textbox for you.
Also scm has start/resume feature.
So if you edit the sheet while it’s loaded into a task, the data would no longer be in sync with resume data so you would need to manually restart a task.
The question is if Google gives you a simple range selection to pick the right rows as query for Google maps task.
I need to research it. I have a feeling there isn’t one, so you need to type in the data range yourself (not ideal).
Thank you for outlining the process and challenges so clearly, Tim.
I was hoping that there would be an easy solution but I do understand that this may be challenging and that it may be a niche use case.
Is there any limitation on the number of entries in the input field? I have just over 5k suburbs!
There is no limit to the input field. 5k rows is fine.
I’ve seen HTML textboxes handle 10ks of rows without problems.
If you do have any performance problems let me know.
The task code will stream large files to save memory.
I’m not sure exactly how HTML textarea handles large texts though. However if the UI lags, we can change input to a combo file selector instead so that there is no UI hit from loading large lists.
Good to hear. I am going to give it a shot and will let you know if I run into any issues.
I’m going to concatenate text and cell values in the google sheet to give me the search strings for each suburb and then copy and paste them into the input field.
Last question: Should I expect any limitation/IP blocks from Google with such a large amount of data?
If you want permutations, SCM has keyword tool that does this as well.
For Google maps there is no real limit. Although sometimes Google may load slowly so you miss out on reviews.
If you do see some form of blocking from Google maps please let me know.
Brilliant, thank you! I used the keyword tool and I am running the scrape now. Will let you know if I encounter any issues.
Great to hear!
