Bulk Operations

Mapiry supports bulk importing locations from CSV or KML/KMZ files, and exporting locations to CSV format. This guide covers all available bulk operations.

What Bulk Operations Exist

Currently, Mapiry supports:

CSV Import - Import locations from spreadsheet files
KML/KMZ Import - Import locations from Google Earth files
CSV Export - Export locations to spreadsheet files (New!)

Most other bulk operations are not implemented.

CSV Import

Import multiple locations from a CSV (comma-separated values) file.

Required Columns

Your CSV must have these columns:

name - Location name (required)
lat or latitude - Latitude coordinate (required)
lng or longitude - Longitude coordinate (required)

Optional Columns

description - Location description
category - Category name (will be created if doesn't exist)
hidden - "true" or "false" to hide/show location

Example CSV

name,latitude,longitude,description,category,hidden
Coffee Shop A,37.7749,-122.4194,Great coffee,Cafes,false
Coffee Shop B,37.7849,-122.4094,Best latte,Cafes,false
Restaurant X,37.7649,-122.4294,Amazing food,Restaurants,false

How to Import CSV

Create or edit a map
Look for the CSV import option (location varies by UI)
Upload your CSV file
Preview the data
Map CSV columns to Mapiry fields if needed
Import

See CSV Import Technical Guide for detailed file format requirements.

KML/KMZ Import

Import locations from KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files, commonly used by Google Earth and Google Maps.

What's Supported

File types:

.kml - Keyhole Markup Language XML
.kmz - Compressed KML (ZIP containing KML + images)

Features:

Placemarks are imported as locations
Folders in KML can become categories
Some style preservation
Multi-layer KML files

What's Imported

From each placemark:

Name
Description
Coordinates (lat/lng)
Folder name (mapped to category)

How to Import KML/KMZ

Create or edit a map
Look for the KML import option
Upload your KML or KMZ file
Preview the locations
Choose how to map folders to categories
Import

See KML Import Guide for detailed information about KML parsing.

CSV Export

Export your map's location data to a CSV file for backup, analysis, or sharing.

Features

Available to:

✅ Free users
✅ Pro users

What you can do:

Select which columns to include in the export
Preview data before downloading
Auto-generated filenames (e.g., coffee-shops-tokyo-2026-01-19.csv)
Excel-compatible UTF-8 formatting

Available Columns

You can choose which data to include:

Default columns (pre-selected):

Name (always included, required)
Description
Latitude
Longitude
Category

Optional columns:

Category Color
Hidden status
Image URL
Order
Created date

How to Export CSV

Go to your Dashboard
Find the map you want to export
Click the ⋮ (more) button on the map row
Select Export CSV
In the dialog:
- Review selected columns
- Use "Select All" / "Deselect All" for quick selection
- Preview first 3 rows of data
Click Export CSV
File downloads automatically

Example Export

Name,Description,Latitude,Longitude,Category
"Blue Bottle Coffee","Great pour over",35.6762,139.6503,Cafes
"Starbucks Reserve","",35.6812,139.7671,Cafes
"Onibus Coffee","Third wave coffee",35.6442,139.6989,Cafes

Export Use Cases

Backup your data:

Export before making major changes
Keep offline copies of your maps
Archive old maps

Data analysis:

Analyze location patterns in Excel/Sheets
Create charts and visualizations
Calculate distances or statistics

Share with others:

Send CSV to collaborators
Import into other mapping tools
Provide data to clients

Migrate or duplicate:

Move locations between maps
Import exported CSV into a new map
Share template locations

Tips

Empty fields are exported as empty strings (not "null")
Special characters (commas, quotes) are properly escaped
UTF-8 encoding with BOM ensures Excel compatibility
Filenames are auto-sanitized (special chars removed)

See CSV Import Guide if you want to re-import the data later.

What Bulk Operations Are NOT Available

To set accurate expectations, here's what Mapiry does not currently support:

No Bulk Editing UI

❌ No checkbox selection in location list
❌ No "Select All" option
❌ No bulk actions toolbar
❌ Can't select multiple locations in the UI

No Bulk Category Changes

❌ Can't reassign multiple locations to a new category at once
❌ Must edit locations individually

No Bulk Deletion

❌ Can't delete multiple locations with one action
❌ Must delete locations one by one

No Bulk Field Editing

❌ Can't update descriptions for multiple locations
❌ Can't change visibility (hidden status) in bulk
❌ Can't change colors for multiple locations
❌ Must edit each location individually

No Export Functionality

❌ Can't export locations to CSV
❌ Can't export to KML
❌ Can't export to GeoJSON
❌ Can't export to any format

Coming Soon: Export features are mentioned in the Pro plan configuration but not yet implemented.

No Duplication

❌ Can't duplicate multiple locations
❌ Can't copy locations between maps

No Tagging System

❌ No tags exist at all
❌ Can't add/remove tags in bulk

No Marker Icon Changes

❌ Can't change icons (categories only have colors, no icons)
❌ No icon library exists

No AI Bulk Operations

❌ Can't generate descriptions for multiple locations
❌ Can't auto-categorize multiple locations
❌ No AI-powered bulk operations

Limitations

CSV Import Limits

File size: Depends on browser/server limits
Row count: No strict limit but performance degrades with thousands of rows
Encoding: UTF-8 recommended for special characters

KML Import Limits

File size: KMZ files can be large if they contain images
Complexity: Very complex KML files may have parsing issues
Styles: Not all KML styles are preserved

Best Practices

For CSV Import

Validate your data first
- Check lat/lng coordinates are correct
- Ensure names are not empty
- Remove duplicate rows
Test with a small file
- Try importing 5-10 rows first
- Verify the import works before importing hundreds
Use consistent formatting
- Stick to standard CSV format
- Use UTF-8 encoding
- Avoid special characters in column names
Prepare categories in advance
- Create categories in Mapiry first
- Use exact category names in your CSV
- Or let import create categories automatically

For KML Import

Export from Google Maps properly
- Export your map as KML
- Include all folders and layers you want
Test the KML file
- Open it in Google Earth first to verify
- Check that all placemarks are there
Organize with folders
- Use KML folders to organize locations
- Folders can become categories in Mapiry

Working Around Missing Bulk Operations

Since most bulk operations don't exist, here are workarounds:

To Bulk Edit

Export data (when available)
Edit in spreadsheet
Delete old locations manually
Re-import the edited CSV

To Bulk Delete

Delete the map and create a new one
Or manually delete locations one by one

To Bulk Change Categories

Export (when available)
Edit CSV to change category column
Re-import

To Duplicate Maps

Use the map cloning feature to duplicate the entire map
Then delete locations you don't want

See Map Cloning for details.

Future Bulk Operations

Many bulk operation features may be added in future versions if there's demand:

Bulk selection UI
Bulk category changes
Bulk deletion
Export functionality
Bulk field editing

For now, focus on CSV and KML import for bulk operations.

What's Next?

CSV Import Technical Guide - Detailed CSV format specs
KML Import Guide - KML parsing details
Map Cloning - Duplicate entire maps
Managing Locations - Individual location management

Choose operation:
- Append - Add text to end of existing descriptions
- Prepend - Add text to beginning
- Replace - Overwrite all descriptions
- Find & Replace - Replace specific text
Enter your text
Preview changes
Apply

Example: Prepend "⭐ Featured Location: " to highlight select locations.

Bulk Website/Phone Updates

Update website or phone fields:

Select locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Edit Fields" > "Website" or "Phone"
Options:
- Add prefix - (e.g., add "https://" to URLs)
- Add suffix - (e.g., add extension to phone numbers)
- Find & Replace - (e.g., change old domain to new)
- Clear field - Remove all values
Apply

Use case: Fixing improperly formatted phone numbers across many locations.

Bulk Address Formatting

Standardize address formats:

Select locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Edit Fields" > "Address"
Choose formatting template:
- US Standard - "123 Main St, City, ST 12345"
- International - "123 Main St, 12345 City, Country"
- Custom - Define your own format
Apply

Bulk Custom Field Updates (Pro)

If you're using custom fields, you can bulk update them too:

Select locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Edit Fields" > "Custom Fields"
Choose which custom field to edit
Set value or use find & replace
Apply

Advanced Bulk Operations (Pro)

Bulk AI Description Generation

Generate descriptions for all selected locations using AI:

Select locations without descriptions (or with weak ones)
Click "Bulk Actions" > "Generate Descriptions (AI)"
AI analyzes each location and creates unique descriptions
Review the generated text
Click "Accept All" or selectively accept/reject
Save

💡 Tip: This can save hours when importing location data that lacks descriptions!

Bulk Geocoding

Fix or verify coordinates for multiple locations:

Select locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Reverify Coordinates"
Mapiry uses the address to re-geocode each location
Review any locations with changed coordinates
Accept changes

Use case: You imported CSV data and some coordinates seem off.

Bulk Image Upload

Add images to multiple locations from your computer or URLs:

Select locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Add Images"
Choose method:
- Upload files - Select from computer
- Use URLs - Paste image URLs (one per location, in order)
- Same image for all - Apply one image to all selected
Upload/paste
Images are assigned in order of selection

Bulk Auto-Categorization

Let AI categorize selected locations:

Select uncategorized locations
"Bulk Actions" > "Auto-Categorize"
AI analyzes location names and types
Suggests categories for each
Review suggestions
Accept all or selectively
New categories are created if needed

Filtering & Searching Before Bulk Operations

To target specific locations, use filters:

Search Filter

Type in the search box to narrow down locations
Select all search results
Apply bulk action

Examples:

Search "Starbucks" to update all Starbucks locations
Search "New York" to apply changes to NYC locations only

Category Filter

Click category name in the panel to filter
Select all in that category
Apply bulk action

Status Filter

Filter by location status:

All locations
Visible only
Hidden only
Draft only
Missing data (incomplete locations)

Custom Filter (Pro)

Create advanced filters:

Click "Advanced Filter"
Add conditions:
- Field (name, description, category, etc.)
- Operator (contains, equals, doesn't contain, etc.)
- Value
Add multiple conditions with AND/OR logic
Apply filter
Select all filtered results
Perform bulk action

Example filter:
"Category equals 'Restaurant' AND Description contains 'vegan' AND City equals 'Portland'"

Undo & History

Undo Bulk Operations

Made a mistake?

Click "Undo" button immediately after bulk action (appears for 10 seconds)
Or press Ctrl/Cmd + Z
The operation is reversed

Note: Only the most recent bulk operation can be undone.

Bulk Operation History (Pro)

See all past bulk operations:

Click "History" in the Locations panel
View list of all bulk actions:
- Operation type
- Date/time
- Number of locations affected
- User who performed it (for team maps)
Click any operation to see details
Optionally revert (if within 30 days)