InstaMaps
Workflows / Live warnings check

Live warnings check from a Google Drive file to Google Sheets

Which of your places are inside a flood or storm warning in force right now. 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
Live warnings check
Google Sheets
Works inClaudeChatGPTCopilotGemini
Add InstaMaps to your AI →
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>, check which of these places are inside or within 5 km of a flood or storm warning in force right now, 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

  • Inside, near or clear, for every place
  • The warnings that touch it: kind, level and end time
  • Anything that can't be placed or answered comes back with the reason. Nothing is dropped.

Set it up

Live warnings 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.

Run it on a schedule

Every morning at 6am: using the rows in this CSV or Excel file in my Google Drive: <link to the file>, check which of these places are inside or within 5 km of a flood or storm warning in force right now, and put the results in a new tab of this Google Sheet: <link to a sheet>.

  • Claude. Scheduled tasks run a prompt hourly, daily, on weekdays or weekly, with the connectors you've added. They need a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise), and on Pro and Max they run in the cloud, so your computer can be off.
  • ChatGPT. ChatGPT has scheduled tasks, but OpenAI doesn't yet say whether they can use a custom connector. Run the prompt by hand until it does.
  • Microsoft Copilot and Teams. Copilot Studio agents can run on a schedule with a Recurrence trigger. The run uses the agent author's sign-ins.
  • Gemini. Google doesn't yet say whether scheduled actions can use a custom app. Run the prompt by hand until it does.

Good to know

  • England flood warnings and US weather warnings, plus earthquakes and other global alerts. Warning areas are the issuers' own.
  • 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.

Related workflows

Live warnings check in Google SheetsLive warnings check from Google Sheets to GmailLive warnings check from a Google Drive file to GmailLive warnings check from Google Calendar to Google SheetsLive warnings check from Google Calendar to GmailGeocoded address list from a Google Drive file to Google Sheets