Auto Calculate the distance driven when an address is added

[Lisa_H]

I hope I put this question in the correct area.

I am developing a base to use for a contracting business, and I have a column for Distance Driven to job (to calculate fuel used in a different column)

when I create the job for the client, it auto inputs the job address into a column, is there a way to have it auto calculate the distance to drive (by inputting my business address as always being the starting address, and the job address being the ending address?)

Currently when I am creating the job for the client in the base, I have to open Google maps in a separate page, and input my business address and job address by hand, and manually transfer the number of miles into the base.

There has to be a better way, right?

[ScottWorld]

Yes, this would be very easy to automate by using Make's Google Maps integrations & automations along with Make's Airtable integrations & automations.

You would have Airtable trigger a Make automation that uses Google Maps' "Get A Distance Matrix" module, which would then return the distance to you that would automatically get sent back to Airtable.

This would all happen invisibly & silently in the background. From the user's point of view (i.e. your point of view), the distance would just magically appear in Airtable.

The only real problem is that if you've never used Make before, there is a bit of a learning curve, so it will probably take you an hour or two to figure out how to use it for the first time.

Because of this learning curve, I've assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

For example, to instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable, check out this thread.

And Make even created an entire Make Training Academy here.

i also give live demonstrations of how to use Make in many of my Airtable podcast appearances here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbH9iE5ncCk&list=PLqssva4liHRwHhQIpTXekG8WObEoyC2F1

p.s. If you have a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consulting — ScottWorld