Distance calculator

Use the distance calculator to measure the length between the start and end points of your shipments and business trips.

On this page:

• Find distance calculator
• Prepare spreadsheet
• Format spreadsheet
• View results
• Use distances in inventory
• Fix common errors

Find distance calculator 

To access the distance calculator in Climate Smart:

1. In the top navigation, click Toolbox.
2. Select Distance Calculator.

Prepare spreadsheet

Before you start, prepare a spreadsheet with the information you need to calculate. You have two options to make a spreadsheet: download a template or format your own.

We recommend downloading our template. If you create your own spreadsheet to sort your data, make sure it’s formatted correctly and saved as a CSV or Excel file.

Download a spreadsheet to edit

Downloading a template to sort your data is highly recommended. These templates give you the editable columns you need, reducing the chance of missing information and preventing unsuccessful uploads.

To download a template:

1. In the top navigation, click Toolbox and then open the Distance Calculator.
2. Click DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE to save the file.

Format spreadsheet

Here are some tips when formatting spreadsheets.

Technical requirements

• Spreadsheet must be in a supported format (.csv, .xlxs)
• Spreadsheet must be 1 GB or less in size

Column headers

Spreadsheets must have columns with the following headers:

Header	Description
Start Location	The city, province or region, and country where a shipment or trip began.
End Location	The city, province or region, and country where a one-way trip ended, or where a shipment was delivered to.
Type	The method of transportation for each route: air, road, water, or rail.

Row data

To prevent errors, here’s how to format the information in your spreadsheet:

Row data	Description	✓ Do this	X Don’t do this
Locations	To enter your start or end locations, use: City and state, province, or region Country Zip or postal code  Airport name	Examples of correct locations: Victoria, BC Canada YUL airport	Don’t use coordinates (such as 51.0443° N, 114.0631° W). Don't enter the airport code alone (for example, YUL or YYC).
Type	Tell us how someone travelled or how the goods were transported: by road, rail, water, or air.	Enter one of the following activity types: Road Rail Water Air	Don’t enter more than one activity type in a row.

Upload spreadsheet

To upload a spreadsheet:

1. In the top navigation, click Toolbox and then open the Distance Calculator.
2. Click UPLOAD FILE.
3. In the window that opens, drop or select the file with your data.
4. Select the row with your column headers and click Continue.
5. Confirm that the columns in your file match the required columns, then click Continue.
6. Review the data you’re uploading. Fix any errors and then click Import record.
7. Click Submit to finish. Wait for an email from us to find out when your calculations are complete. In the meantime, you can learn how to view your results.

View results

Once your upload is finished, you’ll get an email from us letting you know if all distances were successfully calculated or if you need to try again.

To view the results of your upload:

1. From your Toolbox in the top navigation, open the Distance Calculator.
2. Under Upload History, find the spreadsheet you uploaded. The most recent upload is listed first by default.
3. Under Results, click DOWNLOAD to save the file on your computer.
4. Review the distances you calculated. The Successful Uploads tab lists completed calculations and the Errors tab lists distances that couldn’t be calculated.

Your new spreadsheet will have three new columns:

Header	Description
Distances (mi)	The distance between the start and end locations calculated in miles.
Distances (km)	The distance between the start and end location calculated in kilometres.
Errors	Any errors that prevented the distance from being calculated. Learn how to fix common errors.

Use results in inventory

To use your calculations and estimate your emissions based on distance travelled:

1. Choose an activity.
2. Select Estimate by Distance as your calculation method.
3. Enter your results from the distance calculator under Distance traveled* (in kilometers or miles).

Learn how to estimate by distance for the following activities:

• Transporting people
• Transporting goods

Fix common errors

To fix data for distances that couldn’t be calculated:

1. From your Toolbox in the top navigation, open the Distance Calculator.
2. Under Upload History, find the spreadsheet you uploaded. The most recent upload is listed first by default.
3. Under Results, click DOWNLOAD to save the file on your computer.
4. Open the file. Click the Errors tab and review the Error column.
5. Create a new spreadsheet with corrected data from the Errors tab and upload it

Here are common errors and their solutions when using the distance calculator:

Error	Solution
Unmatched required fields.	Make sure your spreadsheet has all required columns. Check if any headers were excluded and need to be added back manually.
Missing values.	Enter values in all required columns.
No travel route found between start and end locations.	We can’t find a travel route between the locations you entered. Please contact our Customer Success team for help.
Postal or ZIP code not found.	Climate Smart isn’t able to locate the postal or ZIP code you entered. For example, sometimes, spreadsheet software removes the 0 at the beginning of a ZIP code. Double-check that the postal or ZIP codes in your spreadsheet are complete and try again.
Excel file taking too long to process.	If your Excel file (.xlsx) is taking too long to process, try converting it to a CSV file (.csv) and upload it again.