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I want to bring in a custom list of competitors
I want to bring in a custom list of competitors

Layers are a powerful way to take the data that you already have and integrate it with the PiinPoint database

Cameron Klapwyk avatar
Written by Cameron Klapwyk
Updated over a week ago

You can take anything with an address and map it in PiinPoint. Layers allow you to get creative with your internal data, plot your customer locations, see how your employees are affected by a relocation, or to coordinate potential sites for a real estate approval team.

One of the more common uses for layers is to plot out a custom competitor set that would be important to someone's business. If you are a fast food restaurant that has a set of competitors that are very important to map out, you can bring in that data easily with PiinPoint.

Organize the data

To prepare your data, format it as a csv Excel file. In the file, the different pieces of information should be organized into columns with header names at the top, and the individual locations organized in the rows. What we need in order to upload your data is a unique ID (or unique name), address and category (if you want different coloured points). We can geocode any regular address but latitude and longitude is always best! Any additional columns will be listed as an attribute associated with the point. Here's a sample of a Fast Food competitors list that is ready to be uploaded to PiinPoint:

Upload the Data

To upload the spreadsheet, head to the Layers panel on the left and select Add New Layer. Click Upload Existing Dataset and choose your csv file. If you see any errors at this point, don't hesitate to contact us via Chat or email support@piinpoint.com so we can isolate the problem with you. 

Browse your data

Now that your data is uploaded to PiinPoint, it will look something like this:

You can click any of the locations to see additional data in the point's context menu or take a tour of the points. Layers appear in a report in the Overview and POI tabs so you can include them in any future reporting and see them in relation to other POIs or your existing locations.

If you still have questions, feel free to contact your Customer Success Manager via Chat or email support@piinpoint.com.

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