๐ฏ Focus on popular cities ยท Collect business lists faster
When collecting Google Maps data from countries like Japan ๐ฏ๐ต, the region count is enormous โ the extension detects 111,923 entries, far more than the country's 1,700+ municipal-level administrative units. Running a full collection is slow and inefficient.
Prioritize popular cities โ e.g. top cities by population. Concentrate your resources on the densest areas to get 80% of the data in 20% of the time.
1. Get your efficiency tools readyโ
To generate the city list efficiently, we recommend an AI assistant:
- Tencent Yuanbao (recommended): Website | Download center
- DeepSeek / Gemini / ChatGPT โ whichever you're comfortable with or have access to
2. Get the city listโ
1. Address format requirementsโ
The Custom Regions field in the map collector needs a specific address format:
nanjing, jiangsu, china
That is: city name, province/state/prefecture, country (comma-separated, English).
2. Generate the city listโ
For countries with many cities like Japan, ask the AI to filter the top cities by population for more targeted collection.
- 1๏ธโฃ English names โ city and region names in English so Google Maps recognizes them
- 2๏ธโฃ Markdown code block โ ask the AI to output in a code block for easy copy-paste
- 3๏ธโฃ Strict format โ emphasize the output format
city, prefecture, country
Example prompt:
Please list the top 50 cities in Japan by population, along with their respective prefectures, in English,
and output strictly in the following format inside a markdown code block:
nanjing, jiangsu, china
Demo: Paste the prompt into the AI tool (Tencent Yuanbao shown below). The AI returns a formatted city list per your spec.
AI-generated content may need real-world adjustment โ e.g. double-check that prefecture mappings are correct.
3. Apply the list to collectionโ
- Copy the city list from the AI's markdown code block
- Paste it into the Custom Regions field in the map collector
- Start the collection task โ the tool will prioritize these popular cities, sharply improving efficiency
4. Get more citiesโ
Once the first 50 are done and you want broader coverage, ask the AI for more:
Please continue listing Japan's cities ranked 51st to 100th by population, along with their respective prefectures, in English,
still strictly following this format inside a markdown code block:
nanjing, jiangsu, china
Repeat until you have as many cities as you need.
This focus-on-popular-cities approach lets you smartly and efficiently cover countries with massive region counts like Japan.
๐ก๏ธ Field tipsโ
| Tip | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1๏ธโฃ Verify accuracy | AI-generated lists (especially province/state/prefecture mappings) may have errors โ sample-check before running large collections |
| 2๏ธโฃ Request in batches | Asking for too much at once (e.g. "top 1000") degrades response quality โ request 50-100 at a time |
โ FAQโ
Q1 ยท The AI-generated list is in the wrong format โ what should I do?โ
Adjust your prompt to emphasize the format requirement more clearly. Provide multiple correct-format examples and tell the AI "strictly follow this format, do not add any extra explanation." If the problem persists, try a different tool.
Q2 ยท Why not just collect all regions?โ
Countries like Japan or the US have tens of thousands of regions โ full collection generates a massive task load and takes forever. Prioritizing densely populated popular cities gets you 80% effective data coverage in 20% of the time. That's the cost-effective play.
๐ Related readingโ
- ๐ How to use the Google Maps extension โ Basic collection tool operations, including Custom Regions
- ๐ง Google Maps customer development methodology โ Analyze customers scientifically and find the most effective search keywords
๐ Permalink: https://laifa.xin/chajian/improve-google-maps-data-collection-efficiency-focus-on-popular-cities