Version 25 user's guide - PC*Miler

Chapter
3
Using PC*MILER|Spreadsheets
There are two ways to use PC*MILER|Spreadsheets formulas in Excel: either
type them directly into a cell or use the Insert Function option. All formulas will
accept strings for city name, and either strings or integers for ZIP codes.
NOTE: Leading zeros are significant in numeric postal codes in many countries,
for example in the USA, "504" is a 3-digit ZIP code centroid in central
Wisconsin, whereas "00504" is a 5-digit ZIP code in Holtsville, New York. For
that reason, we recommend that you always enter or import numeric postal codes
as text strings. If you do enter or import a postal code as an integer, be aware that
Microsoft Excel will strip off leading zeros before that number gets to
PC*MILER, for example if you enter the formula =miles(00504,504),
PC*MILER will see that as =miles(504,504). In contrast, =miles("00504",504)
will return the distance from the 5-digit ZIP code "00504" in Holtsville, New
York to the 3-digit ZIP code area "504" in southeast Wisconsin.
3.1 How to Format Cells and Enter a Formula
� All city/state entries in Excel MUST contain a comma between the city name
and state/country abbreviation, and – if you are using PC*MILER|Streets – all
street addresses MUST be separated from the preceding place name by a
semicolon. Example: new york, ny;118 broadway.
NOTE: For help with formatting street-level addresses so they are valid in
PC*MILER|Spreadsheets, we provide a workbook with examples in the
Excel folder of your PC*MILER installation folder (usually C:\ALK
Technologies\PMW25x\EXCEL). Look in the “Other Formulas” tab of
the DEMO_NA.xls file.
� Columns must be formatted correctly so they can be read. This is
especially important when importing postal codes – if your columns are not
properly formatted, the default spreadsheet format (“General”) will cause the
first zero to be dropped from postal codes that begin with zero. Also, columns
containing calculated distances should be formatted so the desired number of
decimal places appears. To format columns:
1. Highlight a column you wish to format.
2. Right-click the column and select “Format Cells…”.
3. In the Number tab under Category, highlight “Number”, “Text”, or
“Special > Zip Code”, depending on the type of data the cells will
contain. NOTE: All Number and Zip Code formatting accepts text too.
PC*MILER|Spreadsheets User’s Guide 9