# Google Sheets for the numbers, Restoration Scope for the map

> Excel files on laptops are a weak place for restoration records; a shared Google Sheet is the least a project needs. Where a sheet fits, and when to add a map of sites and polygons.

Many nature restoration projects keep their records in Excel or Google Sheets, and the two are not equal. Excel files kept on laptops get emailed, copied and lost, and nobody knows which copy is current. A Google Sheet is one shared file with version history: move the Excel files there. Even a shared sheet is not built around maps. Sites become latitude and longitude columns, boundaries live in separate files and photos sit in folders. Restoration Scope keeps those records on a map of sites and polygons, and keeps reading your Google Sheet.

## Excel and Google Sheets vs Restoration Scope at a glance

| | Excel and Google Sheets | Restoration Scope |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | General-purpose spreadsheets: tables, formulas, charts and pivot tables, on the web, desktop and phones. | A restoration data platform: a configured field app, linked records, maps and portals. |
| Cost | Google Sheets is free with a Google account. Excel comes with Microsoft 365, and Excel for the web is free with a Microsoft account. Many teams already have one. | Priced per project after a scoping call. No public price list. |
| Sites on a map | Coordinates sit in two columns. Excel's map chart and Sheets' geo chart shade regions or mark named places, not latitude and longitude pairs; Excel's 3D Maps, on Windows, can plot points. To work with sites on a map, teams usually copy rows into another tool, such as Google My Maps. | Every site, plot and planting on one project map, in the browser and the Field App. |
| Boundaries and GIS files | No shape type in a cell. Polygons are pasted as text or kept as separate KML, GeoJSON or shapefiles; Excel's 3D Maps can import KML or shapefile regions to map data onto. Neither app checks that a shape is valid or still matches its row. | Points, lines and polygons drawn or walked on the project map, saved to their site. Shapefile, GeoJSON, KML and KMZ files come in and attach to their sites. |
| Photos | Images in cells, links to shared folders, or chat messages. The sheet does not read where a photo was taken. | Attached to the record, with place and time. |
| Field capture | Often typed in after the visit, or fed by a form such as Google Forms or Microsoft Forms. Neither form tool has a question that records a GPS point or boundary. | The Field App works offline: points, lines, polygons and photos. |
| Sharing and seasons | Emailed Excel files drift apart; a Google Sheet stays one shared file with version history. Survival checks still become a tab per season, joined by lookup formulas on site IDs you keep in sync. | One current record per site, linked to every visit, season after season. |
| Funder and verifier reporting | Charts and pivot tables, then maps, photos and boundary files often put together by hand for each report. | Donor portals built from the same records the team keeps. |

**Use both.** Restoration Scope connects Google Sheets and keeps syncing as the sheet changes, so the sheet can stay where it works. Excel files come in once, as imports, so move them to Google Sheets first.

1. Google Sheets: The team keeps one shared Google Sheet, not Excel files.
2. Restoration Scope: Restoration Scope keeps syncing as the sheet changes.
3. Restoration Scope: Its rows join the project's records and map.

## Where Restoration Scope differs, on screen

- **A table that is also a map.** The rows a sheet would hold, each beside its boundary on the map.
- **One record per site, every season.** A site keeps its boundary, monitoring plots and survival rate together, so nobody joins tabs by hand.

Checked against their makers' own pages on October 18, 2026: [Excel map charts](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-map-chart-in-excel-f2cfed55-d622-42cd-8ec9-ec8a358b593b), [Excel 3D Maps](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-with-3d-maps-6b56a50d-3c3e-4a9e-a527-eea62a387030), [3D Maps custom regions](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/import-a-custom-region-file-into-3d-maps), [Excel for the web](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web), [Google Sheets](https://workspace.google.com/products/sheets/), [Sharing from Drive](https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2494822), [Version history](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/190843), [Shared drives](https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/7212025), [Sheets geo charts](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/9143071), [Google My Maps imports](https://support.google.com/mymaps/answer/3024836), [Google Forms question types](https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7322334), [Microsoft Forms questions](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-a-question-fc728458-5f5b-46d5-9e5d-1e89dd4ba601).

## Where each fits

### Pick Google Sheets when

- One site, one season, one or two people, in a shared sheet rather than Excel files passed around.
- No repeat survival checks yet, and funders accept a table.
- You are still working out what to track. A shared sheet is the quickest way to find out.

### Pick Restoration Scope when

- You develop carbon projects and need parcel boundaries, monitoring plots and the evidence a verifier asks for kept together, site by site.
- Repeat survival checks over five years must match the right planting, as the CI and WRI monitoring framework asks.
- Several partners keep separate copies, as Acción Andina's sixteen partner organizations across six countries did before their shared database.
- Funders ask for maps and photos by site.

## Questions teams ask

### Can Excel or Google Sheets make a map?

Of regions, yes: Excel's map chart and Sheets' geo chart shade countries, states or regions, and Excel's 3D Maps, on Windows desktop, can plot points. For sites with boundaries, teams usually copy rows into Google My Maps, which takes up to 2,000 rows per imported file, or into a GIS such as QGIS.

### How do I turn a spreadsheet of plot coordinates into a map?

Keep latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, in separate columns, then import the file into a mapping tool: Google My Maps, QGIS, or Restoration Scope, where each row becomes a site on the project map. If your coordinates are in UTM, our free UTM to Lat/Long Converter changes them first.

### Is Restoration Scope a spreadsheet alternative?

For budgets, quick lists and analysis, no: keep the spreadsheet. Restoration Scope covers what spreadsheets were not built for in restoration: sites and boundaries on a map, photos tied to places, and survival checks tied to the right planting.

### Excel or Google Sheets for restoration records?

Google Sheets. Excel files kept on laptops get emailed, copied and lost, and nobody knows which copy is current. A Google Sheet is one shared file: send a link, see its version history, keep it in a shared drive. Restoration Scope also keeps syncing a Google Sheet as it changes, while an Excel file comes in once, as an import.

Restoration Scope publishes this comparison. Something out of date? Write to info@restorationscope.com.

More: [All comparisons](https://restorationscope.com/compare), [Field data capture apps compared](https://restorationscope.com/blog/field-data-capture-apps), [Where restoration records live, from word of mouth to custom software](https://restorationscope.com/blog/where-restoration-records-live).