Have you ever had to manually update event information on your website? It’s time-consuming, prone to errors, and let’s be honest – there are better ways to spend your time. Here’s how we solved this challenge by building an automated system that takes our event data from a simple Google Sheet and transforms it into a beautiful, interactive map.
The Challenge We Faced
Our windsurfing events and clinics were stored in a Google Sheet – simple to update but not very useful for our website visitors. We needed a way to:
– Show events on an interactive map
– Automatically highlight past vs. upcoming events
– Display different types of events differently
– Keep everything up-to-date without manual work
Our Solution: Building an Automated Pipeline
We created a system that does all the heavy lifting for us. Here’s how it works:
1. Data Entry: Our team updates a Google Sheet with event details – locations, dates, instructors, everything we need to know about each event.
2. Smart Processing: Once a week, our script runs automatically to:
– Check which events have passed
– Format the information for map display
– Create nice-looking popup windows for each event
– Update the map data
3. Automatic Updates: The map on our website updates itself, and we get a Slack notification when it’s done.
The Cool Parts
The system does some pretty neat things:
Smart Event Display: Each event type (clinics vs. competitions) gets its own special treatment on the map
Automatic Past Event Handling: Events that have passed are marked differently
Beautiful Information Windows: When you click on an event, you get a nicely formatted popup with all the details
Zero Manual Work: Once set up, it just runs by itself
Real Benefits
This automation has been a game-changer for us:
No more manual updates needed
Information is always current
Less chance for human error
More time to focus on what matters – running great events!
Tech Behind the Scenes
For the tech-curious, we built this using:
Google Apps Script for the automation
WP Go Maps for the WordPress integration
Make.com for notifications
A bit of clever HTML/CSS for the formatting
What We Learned
Building this system taught us some valuable lessons:
Sometimes the simple solution (Google Sheets) is the best starting point
Automation doesn’t have to be complex to be effective
A little bit of code can save hours of manual work
Looking Forward
This is just the beginning. We’re already thinking about ways to enhance the system, like adding automatic social media updates or email notifications for upcoming events.
Want to know more about how we built this or looking to create something similar for your own website? Feel free to reach out – I’d love to chat about it!