# Import a past trip into Polarsteps from a spreadsheet

> Polarsteps cannot import GPX or CSV files. Your AI agent creates the past trip and adds every place as a dated step, in travel order.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server/import-past-trip

You travelled before you used Polarsteps, and the places sit in a spreadsheet, a notes file or a Google Maps list. Building the trip again in Polarsteps means one step at a time, with the right date on each.

Cotlet does it in your own Polarsteps account with list\_trips, create\_trip, import\_steps and add\_step, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=polarsteps) [All Polarsteps tools](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server)

Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Official options

## Can Polarsteps do this on its own?

Polarsteps has no API and no import (checked 12 Oct 2026). The help center says Polarsteps cannot import a GPX or other location file. The only way to place a step by coordinates is the desktop website, where you type latitude and longitude by hand.

By hand

## How you do it in Polarsteps today

1. On polarsteps.com, click the red "Add a trip" button on your profile, enter a Trip name and pick a start date in the past.
2. Choose who can see the trip before saving, because the default for every Polarsteps trip is Followers.
3. Add the first place as a step with the smaller + sign on the timeline; on the desktop website you can also enter its latitude and longitude by hand.
4. Open the step, click "Edit step", set the date and time, write the story and add photos from your computer files.
5. Repeat for every row of the spreadsheet. A wrong date on one step makes the route line connect the wrong places.

With an agent

## How to import a past trip into Polarsteps from a spreadsheet

Prompt

```
I did Vietnam in 2019, before I had Polarsteps. Create the trip as private and import the 12 places in vietnam.csv as steps, with the photo links from the last column.
```

1. 01  
### Check the rows first  
The agent reads the file and needs a place and a date on every row. Rows without a date, or with a place that could be two towns, go back to you as a short list before anything is created.
2. 02  
### Avoid a second copy  
It calls list\_trips and looks for a trip with the same name or overlapping dates. If one exists, it asks whether to add the missing steps to it instead of creating a new trip.
3. 03  
### Create the trip privately  
create\_trip gets the name, the first and last date from the file and privacy only\_me, unless you named another level. You can share it once the route looks right.
4. 04  
### Import with time zones  
Dates get the local time zone of each place, so a night bus across a border keeps the right order. Files longer than 50 rows go in several import\_steps calls, each one confirmed by you.
5. 05  
### Add single steps later  
For one new place, such as today in Lisbon from your notes, the agent uses add\_step on the current trip and leaves the rest of the route as it is.

### What you get back

Example data

```
Trip created: Vietnam 2019 (2 Mar to 20 Mar 2019), privacy Only me
Steps imported: 12 of 12, in date order
Photos attached: 31 from the links in column F
Asked you about: "Hoi An" vs "Hoi An Ancient Town" (row 7), kept the first
Next: set privacy to Followers when you are happy with the route
```

### Other ways to ask

- Rebuild my 2018 interrail trip from this Google Maps list, one step per city.
- Add today as a step in Lisbon with these four photos and the story from my notes.
- Import these 30 places into my existing Mexico trip, skipping any that are already steps.

Before you automate it

## What Polarsteps allows, and what to know first

- Polarsteps cannot import a GPX or other location file; steps by coordinates are possible only on the desktop website, entered by hand.
- Every new Polarsteps trip defaults to Followers, and an accepted follower sees all your trips except the ones set to Only me.
- The Polarsteps website accepts photos only from your computer files; the iPhone and Android apps can also pull from iCloud, Google Photos or Dropbox albums.
- Polarsteps never adds photos to steps on its own, and a planned future trip cannot hold photos at all.
- Changing the date or place of a Polarsteps step redraws the route line, so the help center asks you to check the other value too.

create\_trip, import\_steps and add\_step ask for your OK by default. To run it on a schedule without you, switch confirmation off for those tools in your dashboard.

Sources: [Polarsteps Help: Can I import a GPX or other location-file into Polarsteps?](https://support.polarsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/24267546737426-Can-I-import-a-GPX-or-other-location-file-into-Polarsteps) · [Polarsteps Help: How do I create my first trip?](https://support.polarsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/29003811909394-How-do-I-create-my-first-trip) · [Polarsteps Help: Can I import my photos? (e.g. iCloud, Google Photos)](https://support.polarsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/24267949061906-Can-I-import-my-photos-e-g-iCloud-Google-Photos) · [Polarsteps Help: What are steps and how do I add or edit them?](https://support.polarsteps.com/hc/en-us/articles/23760478173586-What-are-steps-and-how-do-I-add-or-edit-them)

REST

## Call import\_steps from a script

curl

```
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/polarsteps/import_steps \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"trip_id":"20931176","steps":[{"place":"Hanoi, Vietnam","date":"2019-03-02T09:00:00+07:00","title":"Arrival in Hanoi"},{"place":"Ha Long Bay, Vietnam","date":"2019-03-05T08:00:00+07:00","title":"Boat to Ha Long Bay"}]}'
```

Example response

```
{
"trip_id": "20931176",
"added": 2,
"steps": [
{
"step_id": "301440018",
"title": "Arrival in Hanoi",
"date": "2019-03-02T09:00:00+07:00"
},
{
"step_id": "301440019",
"title": "Boat to Ha Long Bay",
"date": "2019-03-05T08:00:00+07:00"
}
]
}
```

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the tool is polarsteps\_import\_steps. Example data.

[Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server#automations)

Tools

## Polarsteps tools this automation uses

__Cotlet Polarsteps tools used to import a past trip into Polarsteps from a spreadsheet__
| Tool | Parameters |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| list\_trips | status, limit |
| create\_trip | name, start\_date, end\_date, summary, privacy |
| import\_steps | trip\_id, steps |
| add\_step | trip\_id, place, date, title, story, photo\_urls |

[All 14 Polarsteps tools with descriptions](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server#tools)

## More Polarsteps automations

- [Export a single Polarsteps trip as GPX or Markdown](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server/export-trip-gpx)
- [Turn a Polarsteps trip into a blog post](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server/trip-to-blog-post)
- [Proofread a Polarsteps trip before printing a Travel Book](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server/proofread-trip-for-travel-book)
- [Polarsteps API and MCP server: every tool](https://cotlet.dev/integrations/polarsteps-api-mcp-server)
- [All use cases](https://cotlet.dev/use-cases)

## Give your agent access to Polarsteps.

Free 7-day trial with 5,000 credits, no card needed. Cotlet is independent and not affiliated with Polarsteps.

[Request access](https://cotlet.dev/app/signup?app=polarsteps)