Preparing your data

Before uploading store data to Store Directory, you need the file in the right format. This is the most important step — most upload failures come from a file that was not prepared properly. A few minutes here makes everything afterwards go smoothly.

What data formats are accepted?

Format	When to use it
CSV	You have a tabular store list (name, address, coordinates, phone...). This is the most common case.
Shapefile	You already have your outlets as a GIS point layer from dedicated mapping software.
GeoJSON · KML · GPKG · GML	Data that already carries its coordinates — upload directly, nothing to configure.
Google Sheet	Your spreadsheet lives on Google Drive — paste the link, no export needed.

Whichever format you upload, every record on the map is a point — one store, branch or outlet. With a CSV file, each row is one point with its coordinates.

Preparing a CSV file

Basic rules

• The first row holds the column headers (field names): for example Name, Address, Phone, Longitude, Latitude.
• Each following row is one store.
• Each column is one piece of information (attribute) about the store.

Example:

Name,Address,Phone,Longitude,Latitude
Store A,"123 First Street, Block A",0900000001,106.700,10.776
Store B,"456 Second Street, Block B",0900000002,106.686,10.782

Coordinate columns are required

This is the most important part of a CSV. You need two coordinate columns so the system knows where to place each store on the map:

• Longitude — for example 106.700.
• Latitude — for example 10.776.

Coordinate requirements:

• Use decimal degrees, for example 106.700 — not degrees-minutes-seconds (106°42'...).
• Use a dot as the decimal separator (106.700), not a comma.
• Use the WGS84 coordinate system (the usual GPS standard).
• If stores appear in the wrong place, or the two values look swapped, you have most likely mapped Longitude ↔ Latitude the wrong way round.

During upload the system asks you which column is Longitude and which is Latitude, so the exact names are not mandatory — but clear names make picking them faster.

The separator must be a comma

This is the most common trap, and the hardest one to guess.

The system splits the header row into columns by comma, and only by comma. If your file uses semicolons (;), the entire header is treated as one single column — at the coordinate step, the Longitude/Latitude picker shows one long meaningless entry and you cannot pick anything.

UTF-8 encoding (avoiding broken characters)

So that non-ASCII text does not turn into garbled characters (like Cá), save your CSV with UTF-8 encoding. See the Excel/Google Sheets section for how.

Columns worth including

Besides coordinates, prepare the columns you want customers to see:

• Store name (recommended — used as the label and popup title).
• Address.
• Phone number.
• Opening hours (if you have them).
• Anything else: area, store type, notes...

Preparing a Shapefile

A Shapefile is not a single file but a set of files that belong together, usually:

• .shp — the geometry (where the points sit).
• .shx — the index.
• .dbf — the attribute table.
• .prj — the coordinate system (include it so things land in the right place).

Keep the full set together (usually zipped into one .zip) when uploading. A Shapefile already contains coordinates, so you do not need to pick Longitude/Latitude columns.

From Excel / Google Sheets

Your store data usually lives in Excel or Google Sheets. To convert it to a proper CSV:

In Excel:

1. Arrange the data: headers on the first row, one store per row, with Longitude and Latitude columns.
2. Choose File → Save As.
3. Pick the format CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) — make sure you choose the UTF-8 variant so characters are not mangled.
4. Reopen the file in Notepad to check the separator — see the section above. This step is skipped most often and is the most common cause of getting stuck.

In Google Sheets — two options:

• No export at all: paste the spreadsheet link into the Google Sheet tab of the upload dialog. Remember to share the spreadsheet as Viewer with the service account the dialog shows you.
• Or export as before: File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv). Google Sheets always exports UTF-8 and always uses commas, so neither of the faults above can happen.

Pre-upload checklist

• The first row holds the column headers.
• Columns are separated by commas, not semicolons (check in Notepad).
• Each row is one store, with no blank rows in between.
• There is a Longitude column and a Latitude column, in decimal degrees with a dot separator.
• Coordinates fall within a sensible range for your region, with Longitude ↔ Latitude not swapped.
• The file is saved as UTF-8 (text displays correctly).
• There is a Name column to use as the label/title.
• Category columns use consistent values.
• Shapefile: the full set of files (.shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj).

Common problems & how to avoid them

Problem	Cause & fix
The coordinate picker shows one long entry	The file uses semicolons instead of commas — see the separator section.
Column names are garbled at the coordinate step	The file is not UTF-8. Save it again as CSV UTF-8.
Stores in the wrong place / out at sea	Longitude ↔ Latitude swapped, or coordinates missing. Check the values.
"No Lat/Long" reported during upload	The CSV has no coordinate columns, or you did not pick the Long/Lat columns in the setup step.
Some rows never appear on the map	Those rows have missing or invalid coordinates.
Columns shifted / merged	A comma inside your data (an address, typically) broke the CSV columns — make sure cells containing commas are wrapped in double quotes "...".

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Next: Uploading files — get your prepared file into the system.