How to Show Customers Within Radius on Map

To show customers within a radius on a map, open Google Sheets and use the formula =WITHIN_RADIUS(A2:A100, C1, 5). This filters your address list to identify those within 5 miles of a target point. Then, wrap the results in =INSTAMAP() to generate a live map URL.

This process is designed for field sales representatives planning daily territories and real estate agents identifying local comparables. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a dynamic spreadsheet that filters locations by exact distance and produces a shareable map link, updated automatically whenever your sheet data changes. No coding or complex GIS software is required.

What you need to get started

To map a radius directly inside a spreadsheet, you need two things: a list of customer or property addresses in Google Sheets, and the free InstaMaps add-on. InstaMaps provides custom formulas to geocode addresses, calculate distances, and draw live maps without leaving your document.

Install the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace. The free tier provides 100 lookups per day, which increases to 1,000 daily lookups when you register with a free email. You can insert formulas manually or use the point-and-click sidebar by navigating to Extensions > InstaMaps > Formulas.

Step 1: Geocode your starting points and targets

Before you can calculate a radius, Google Sheets needs to read your text addresses as map coordinates. You must convert your physical addresses into latitude and longitude points using the geocoding formula.

If your addresses are listed in column A, type the following formula into an empty column to process the entire list:

1. =GEOCODE(A2:A100)

2. Press Enter, and the sheet populates the column with precise coordinates (e.g., 51.5074, -0.1278).

3. You must geocode both your list of customers and your central reference point, such as a newly sold property, a depot, or a specific sales territory anchor.

Step 2: Find locations inside the radius

Now that you have coordinates, filter your data by distance. The =WITHIN_RADIUS formula checks a range of coordinates against a central point and returns only those that fall inside your specified distance limit.

Assume your customer coordinates are in column B and your target coordinate is in cell F1. To find every customer located within 10 kilometres of that specific point, enter the following formula:

1. =WITHIN_RADIUS(B2:B100, F1, 10)

2. The formula outputs a clean list of the exact locations that meet your criteria.

3. If you want to check a half-mile radius for a real estate farming exercise, simply change the number to 0.5.

4. The formula calculates distance in miles if your sheet locale is set to the United Kingdom or United States, and kilometres otherwise.

Step 3: Generate your live map

Viewing a text list of filtered coordinates is rarely helpful for visual planning. You need to display those filtered points on a map to understand your route or territory layout.

Use the InstaMaps mapping formula to generate a hosted map URL based on the radius results you just filtered. If your filtered coordinates appeared in column G, point the formula to that specific range:

1. =INSTAMAP(G2:G30)

2. The cell turns into a clickable hyperlink.

3. When you click the link, a new browser tab opens showing a map with a pin for every coordinate.

4. This map is dynamic. If you add a new customer to your sheet or change the radius size, the map updates automatically to reflect the new data.

Worked example: Radius prospecting

Consider a real-world scenario for a field sales manager handling a specific neighbourhood. They have a database of 250 past accounts and want to plan a targeted visit route around a major client. They set their central point as the major client's coordinate in cell C2.

First, they use =GEOCODE(A2:A250) to process their historical data. Next, they apply =WITHIN_RADIUS(B2:B250, C2, 5) to isolate the 47 accounts located within a 5-mile radius. To make driving efficient, they use =SORT_BY_DISTANCE(G2:G48, C2) to organise the 47 stops into a logical driving order. Finally, they use =INSTAMAP(G2:G48) to share the visual map with their driving team.

A real estate agent uses the exact same workflow to farm a recently sold listing. By entering the sold property as the centre point and setting a 0.5-mile radius, they generate a targeted mailing list of surrounding homes, mapping them out to verify density before ordering marketing materials.

Limits and honest alternatives

InstaMaps operates on a daily lookup cap to manage server loads. The free tier offers 100 daily lookups, which increases to 1,000 per day when you verify a free email address. If you have a static list of 50,000 addresses that never changes, you might exhaust these daily limits during the initial geocoding phase.

If you need to map tens of thousands of rows simultaneously, or require complex polygon mapping rather than a simple circle, a dedicated paid tool like Maptive or BatchGeo might serve you better. Those tools are built for massive static datasets.

However, for daily radius prospecting, real estate farming, and standard sales route planning, running =WITHIN_RADIUS inside Google Sheets covers the task at no cost. If you need driving directions for the stops you found, use =ROUTE_LINK(G2:G12) to generate a standard Google Maps navigation link, keeping in mind Google limits standard URL routes to a maximum of 11 stops.

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