Reference Guide
What formats work?
FollowTheMap geocodes your stops automatically. Here's what it handles well — and what to avoid.
Works great ✓
Kansas City, MO
City + state abbreviation — best results
Nashville, Tennessee
Full state name also works
Yellowstone National Park
Landmarks and parks geocode well
Paris, France
International cities — City + Country
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC
Full street addresses work too
Glacier National Park, MT
Park + state for precision
Adding notes inline new
Add a note to any stop by typing a pipe character | after the location. The note will appear in the popup when someone taps that pin.
Kansas City, MO | Great BBQ
Stop name left of | · note right of |
Hannibal, MO | Mark Twain's hometown
Notes show in the map popup
Mackinac Island, MI | No cars allowed
Works with any stop format
Auto-cleaned on import auto
These formats get cleaned automatically — paste directly from any list without reformatting.
1. Kansas City, MO
Numbered lists — numbers stripped
• Denver, CO
Bullet points — stripped automatically
Nashville, TN 37201
Zip codes — stripped automatically
- St. Louis, MO
Dashes and list markers — stripped
Avoid these ✗
Home
Too vague — geocoder won't know where
123
Numbers only — geocodes to wrong location
64108
Zip code only — unreliable
Exit 42
Highway exits — not geocodable
Mom's house
Personal nicknames — use real city names
Ready to copy — sample routes
Midwest Loop — 18 stops · 7 states
St. Louis, MO
Corydon, IN
Walton, KY
Caesar Creek State Park, OH
Cedar Point, OH
Henry Ford Museum, MI
Frankenmuth, MI
Holland, MI
Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI
Mackinac Island, MI
Pictured Rocks, MI
Green Bay, WI
Wisconsin Dells, WI
Milwaukee, WI
Spring Green, WI
Dubuque, IA
Hannibal, MO
St. Louis, MO
Southwest Desert Loop — 10 stops
Phoenix, AZ
Sedona, AZ
Grand Canyon, AZ
Page, AZ
Zion National Park, UT
Bryce Canyon National Park, UT
Moab, UT
Arches National Park, UT
Monument Valley, AZ
Phoenix, AZ
Pacific Coast Highway — 8 stops
Seattle, WA
Portland, OR
Crater Lake National Park, OR
Redwood National Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Big Sur, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Tips
Disambiguation: If a stop lands on the wrong location, tap it in the editor to see alternate options and pick the right one.
Large trips: Over 75 stops will take a couple of minutes to geocode. You can start editing while it runs in the background.
Import instead of typing: Paste directly from Excel, Google Sheets, a Word doc, or a .txt file using the import buttons on the main page.