Can this be done?

[mroser]

Hi,
I was wondering if I could use excel for making a map at work? We don't have any other mapping programs and I thought that maybe I could use excel to complete this. We have a lot of Trailers (mobile homes, campers, etc.) on our yard and they are sorted out all over the place. People make maps it seems on a weekly basis because the trailers are always being shifted. What I wanted to do was create a table that would map the trailers out, and if the trailer was moved enter in some information about the trailer being moved and info about where it was moved in front of or beside, and for the map to update. If something like this is possible could anyone please give me some tips on how to get started and some reference links to learn what i need to do. I can do limited work with VBA...
Thank you very much for help!!

 

[Gerald Higgins]

Hi there. It sounds like you need some kind of schematic diagram, more than an actual map.
This is almost certainly do-able, as long as you track the location and movement information in a consistent way.

Basically you need a list of all possible locations, and a list of all trailer IDs. Do you have that ?

 

[mroser]

Yes I have hand drawn maps and every trailer has a unique seven digit barcode that I was going to use to identify that trailer. I've already made up a form to track the trailers if that are moved. Whoever moves the trailer will write down the barcode of the trailer moved and the barcode of the trailer it is going to be put in front of or beside....So I would need to have a way of coding it so the user can say 1234567 was put in front of/ to the right of/ to the left of 9876543...Also, each trailer has other information that I wanted to make available by maybe double clicking on the barcode...all of the additional information is in a seperate spreadsheet I could reference...So what is it I need to do to get started? I'm very excited that this can be done...thank you at the very least for the hope lol.

 

[Gerald Higgins]

Do you actually have location IDs ?
For example, trailer 1 is in bay A1 ?

Or do you just locate trailers by referring to another trailer ?
For example, trailer 1 is to the left of trailer 2 ?
This is going to be MUCH easier if you have location IDs.

 

[mroser]

For just the examples sake I Put of the trailers into a spreadsheet and their locations are as follows

A B
1251234 1254487
1259875 1259632
1248854 1213685
1354878 1356987


<TABLE style="WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=64 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d4d0c8; BORDER-TOP: #d4d0c8; BORDER-LEFT: #d4d0c8; WIDTH: 48pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d4d0c8; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" align=right width=64 height=17 x:num></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[Gerald Higgins]

What does that data mean ? Is one of them trailer IDs and one of them location IDs ?