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Exporting and Using Your Results

Driving Distance Calculator

How to Read the Results Table

After clicking Calculate Distances, a results table appears below the input area. Each row in the table corresponds to one address pair from your input.

Results Table Columns

ColumnDescriptionExample
**#**Row number (matches input order)1, 2, 3...
**Origin**The origin address as interpreted by Google Maps"123 Main St, Chicago, IL 60601, USA"
**Destination**The destination address as interpreted by Google Maps"456 Oak Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA"
**Distance**Driving distance in your selected unit"87.4 mi" or "140.7 km"
**Duration**Estimated travel time"1 hr 23 min"
**Status**Whether the route was found"OK" or an error code

Important Notes About Displayed Addresses

  • The Origin and Destination columns show the addresses as Google Maps resolved them, not necessarily exactly as you typed them. Google may append the full country name, standardize the street format, or correct minor typos.
  • If the resolved address looks different from what you entered, verify it is the correct location before relying on the distance result.

Understanding Status Codes {#understanding-status-codes}

Each row has a Status column that tells you whether Google successfully calculated a route. Here is what each status code means and what to do when you see one.

OK

Meaning: The route was calculated successfully.

Action: No action needed. Distance and duration values are valid.

NOTFOUND

Meaning: Google Maps could not find one or both of the addresses in your pair.

Possible causes:

  • Typo in the street name, city, or ZIP code
  • Address does not exist (e.g., wrong street number)
  • Address is a P.O. Box (not a drivable location)
  • The location is too vague (e.g., just a city name when a street address is needed)

What to do:

  1. Copy the address from your input and search for it directly in Google Maps
  2. If Google Maps cannot find it either, the address needs to be corrected
  3. If Google Maps finds it, try reformatting the address (add ZIP code, spell out the city, include the state)
  4. Fix the address in your input and resubmit the affected pairs

ZERORESULTS

Meaning: Both addresses were found, but Google Maps cannot calculate a driving route between them.

Possible causes:

  • The locations are not connected by a drivable road network (e.g., islands, remote areas)
  • One location is accessible only by ferry or flight
  • The locations are in different countries with restricted cross-border routing
  • An address resolves to a body of water or non-routable area

What to do:

  • Verify both addresses are accessible by road
  • If a ferry crossing is involved, this tool does not support those route types
  • For locations that require air travel, driving distance is not applicable

MAXWAYPOINTSEXCEEDED

Meaning: The request to Google's API contained too many waypoints.

What to do: This error should not occur in normal usage. If you see it, contact support.

INVALIDREQUEST

Meaning: The request sent to Google's API was malformed.

Possible causes:

  • Address was blank or contained only whitespace
  • A line in your input had a separator but no address on one or both sides

What to do:

  1. Check your input for blank lines or lines with missing origin or destination
  2. Remove or complete any incomplete address pairs
  3. Resubmit the batch

REQUESTDENIED

Meaning: Google's API rejected the request. This is most commonly an API key issue.

Possible causes:

  • The API key is invalid or has been deleted
  • The Directions API is not enabled on your Google Cloud project
  • Billing is not set up on your Google Cloud account
  • API key restrictions are blocking the request

What to do:

  1. Go to the tool's setup page and verify your API key is saved correctly
  2. Check Google Cloud Console to confirm the Directions API is enabled
  3. Verify your billing account is active
  4. See How to Set Up Your Google Maps API Key for full troubleshooting steps

OVERDAILYLIMIT / OVERQUERYLIMIT

Meaning: You have exceeded your Google Maps API quota or daily limit.

What to do:

  1. Log in to Google Cloud Console
  2. Go to APIs & Services > Quotas to review your usage
  3. If your free $200/month credit is exhausted, you will need to add billing or wait for the next billing cycle
  4. Consider setting a budget alert to avoid this in the future

UNKNOWNERROR

Meaning: Google's API returned an unexpected error. This is typically temporary.

What to do:

Exporting to CSV

Once results are displayed, click the Export to CSV button to download a comma-separated values file containing all results from the current batch.

What the CSV Contains

The exported file includes one header row and one data row per address pair:

#,Origin,Destination,Distance,Duration,Status
1,"123 Main St, Chicago, IL 60601, USA","456 Oak Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA",87.4 mi,1 hr 23 min,OK
2,"1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500, USA","350 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10118, USA",229.6 mi,3 hr 41 min,OK
3,"Bad Address Here","456 Oak Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA",,,NOTFOUND

Notes:

  • Rows with errors (non-OK status) will have empty Distance and Duration fields
  • Addresses are quoted to handle commas within address strings
  • Distance includes the unit (mi or km) as part of the value string

Opening Your CSV in Excel

Method 1: Direct Open

  1. After downloading the file, right-click it and select Open with > Microsoft Excel
  2. Excel will open the file and format it as a spreadsheet automatically

Method 2: Import (If Direct Open Shows Raw Text)

If opening directly results in all data in one column:

  1. Open a blank Excel workbook
  2. Click the Data tab
  3. Click From Text/CSV
  4. Browse to and select your downloaded CSV file
  5. In the import wizard, make sure Comma is selected as the delimiter
  6. Click Load

Formatting Tips in Excel

  • Auto-fit columns: Select all cells (Ctrl+A), then double-click any column border to auto-fit widths
  • Freeze the header row: Click row 2, then View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Top Row
  • Filter errors: Click the dropdown in the Status column header and uncheck "OK" to see only rows that need attention
  • Sort by distance: Click the Distance column header and use Data > Sort to order results from shortest to longest

Opening Your CSV in Google Sheets

  1. Open Google Sheets and create a new blank spreadsheet
  2. Click File > Import
  3. Click the Upload tab and drag your CSV file into the window (or click Browse)
  4. In the import settings, select:
- Import location: Replace spreadsheet (or Insert new sheet(s)) - Separator type: Comma
  1. Click Import data

Alternatively, open drive.google.com, drag your CSV file into the browser window, and double-click it. Google Drive will open it directly in Google Sheets.

Practical Use Cases for Your Results

Mileage Reimbursement Processing

  1. Export your batch results to CSV
  2. In Excel, add a column for reimbursement rate (e.g., $0.67/mile for the current IRS standard mileage rate)
  3. Add a formula column: =Distance * Rate to calculate the reimbursement amount per row
  4. Sum the column for total reimbursement owed

Tip: If the Distance column contains "mi" as part of the string (e.g., "87.4 mi"), use Excel's VALUE(LEFT(D2, FIND(" ",D2)-1)) formula to extract the numeric value.

Route Planning and Load Assignment

  1. Run a batch with all potential origin-destination combinations
  2. Export to CSV and open in Excel or Google Sheets
  3. Sort by distance to identify the closest depots or drivers to each destination
  4. Use the Duration column to estimate delivery windows

Freight Quote Validation

When quoting LTL or truckload freight:

  1. Run the shipper and consignee addresses through the calculator
  2. Use the mileage result to apply your per-mile rate
  3. Cross-reference against carrier quotes for accuracy
  4. Flag lanes where quoted distance differs significantly from actual driving distance

Driver Pay Calculations

For per-mile driver pay:

  1. Collect run sheets with origin-destination pairs
  2. Batch process through the calculator
  3. Export results and multiply distance by the per-mile pay rate
  4. Filter for any rows with errors and resolve those addresses manually

Historical Distance Database

For repeated lanes (regular routes your business runs frequently):

  1. Run the batch once for all your standard lanes
  2. Save the CSV as a reference file
  3. Refresh the batch periodically if routes or roads change in your area (Google updates its road data regularly)

Combining Multiple CSV Exports in Excel

If you process more than 100 pairs across multiple batches:

  1. Export each batch to a separate CSV file
  2. In Excel, open the first CSV file
  3. For each additional file:
- Open the CSV in a new window - Select all data rows (excluding the header) - Copy (Ctrl+C) - Switch to the first workbook - Click the first empty row below your data - Paste (Ctrl+V)
  1. Save the combined file

The # column in each export restarts at 1, so you may want to renumber the combined sheet or delete that column.

Related Articles

  • Getting Started with the Driving Distance Calculator
  • Input Formatting and Best Practices
  • How to Set Up Your Google Maps API Key

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