InstaMaps
Workflows / Drive-time check

Drive-time check from a Google Drive file to Google Sheets

Which rows are within 15, 30 or 45 minutes' drive of a place. Ask your AI in plain English: it reads a Google Drive file, InstaMaps does the location work, and the results land in Google Sheets.

Google Drive file
InstaMapsInstaMaps
Drive-time check
Google Sheets
Works inClaudeChatGPTCopilotGemini
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Free connector · sign in with Google · about a minute

The prompt

Using the rows in this CSV or Excel file in my Google Drive: <link to the file>, tell me which addresses are within 15, 30 and 45 minutes' drive of <your address>, and put the results in a new tab of this Google Sheet: <link to a sheet>.

Replace the parts in <angle brackets>.

What comes back

  • The drive-time band each row falls in
  • How many rows are in each band
  • Anything that can't be placed or answered comes back with the reason. Nothing is dropped.

Set it up

Drive-time check in Claude

Every plan, including Free. On Free, InstaMaps uses your one custom connector; Google Drive, Gmail and Google Calendar are directory connectors and don't count against it.

  1. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, and choose "Add custom connector".
  2. Name it InstaMaps and paste https://get-instamaps.com/mcp. Click Add.
  3. Click Connect and continue with Google. You land back in Claude, ready to ask.
  4. Paste the prompt above.
Claude's own guide ↗

Before you start

Reading a Google Drive file

Share the file with InstaMaps, or set it to "anyone with the link can view". InstaMaps reads it straight from Drive.

Writing to Google Sheets

InstaMaps writes to the sheet itself: share it with the address the answer gives you, as Editor. It adds new dated columns or a new tab, and never overwrites a cell.

Good to know

  • Weekday drive times in Great Britain and the US.
  • The connector is free: 5,000 tool calls a day per person, and a whole sheet read by link counts as one call.
  • Rather do it without an AI? Use the free tool on our site.

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