Using ChatGPT to search

One of the uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is not well known is the ability to do fairly complex searches of data in spreadsheets.

The instructions below apply to the Trees in Place spreadsheet, but could also be used on any other spreadsheet. I am using ChatGPT Plus, but it's possible that other AIs would also work. ChatGPT can be used on any Web Browser (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc.) or as an App on the Computer Desktop or on an iPhone.

Set Up ChatGPT

Open the spreadsheet that you want help analyzing. For our example it will be Medford Campus Trees - Trees in Place.
Click on File > Download > Comma Separated Values.
Go to your Downloads folder to view the file.
Open ChatGPT
Click on the + sign at the bottom prompt and click on Upload File.
Find the CSV file in your Downloads Folder and select it, then click Open.
Now you can ask ChatGPT questions about the spreadsheet.

Sample Questions for ChatGPT

Here are some sample questions that you could ask;

How many trees are there in the file?
Summarize the tree species
Are there any Willow Oaks?
Where are they? - shows a table with Tree Number, Latitude and Longitude
Which grids are they in?
Can you show a map visualization for the Willow Oaks? - downloads an HTML file. Clicking on the downloaded file shows a map with the trees in the default browser.
How many treees have linked photos? - shows a table with all the tres with photos and the links.
Which tree is the tallest?
Can you show me the photo for tree number 281?
Are there any memorial trees?

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