Whether you’re a business owner or employee, you have enough on your plate. You don’t want the collection and storage of your sales leads to remain yet another undone task on your to-do list. This is why you’re interested in incorporating Airtable—a spreadsheet-database hybrid—into your workflow.

Airtable pairs a spreadsheet with database column types along with calendar, gallery, Kanban, and other views, which makes it perfect for storing leads.

Moreover, once you have your lead base set up, you can use the information to identify nearby leads to use during sales travel.

Let’s get started building an Airtable base for leads, automating the collection, and exporting the data to find your closest lead.

1. Build an Airtable Base for Leads

Before we can identify our closest lead(s), we must first build our base. You may already have them stored, so look below to make sure you have all the fields you need. If you’re just starting out, let’s begin with the basics. Within Airtable, select Add a base (or use one of the many available Airtable templates). Give your new base a name, “Leads.”

With that done, we can focus on making our base lead-specific. We’ll start with column headings, called fields. By default, things like Name, Notes, and Attachments appear in any new base.

But you can also add your own. Some basic suggestions include:

• Email
• Company name
• First name
• Last name
• Phone number
• City
• State
• Address

You can incorporate even more specific fields such as lead stage, priority, expected close date, or last contact, just to name a few. When it comes to finding your nearest leads, perhaps the most important of these are the location-related fields. Of course, yours needn’t be so U.S.-focused. Just be sure to include some location data, such as country, latitude and longitude, etc.

Now we can either fill all in the details for each new record manually or…

2. Automate Lead Collection with a Form

We can use forms to automate the collection of the information we need. We needn’t do much to incorporate a form into the workflow we’ve already built with our base since Airtable uses your base fields to pre-populate your form.

Let’s jump into it:

• In the Views tab of your base, select Form
• Click the fields to edit the pre-populated information
• Here you can add additional text to clarify the field in your form
• You can also opt to set conditions for when to show certain fields, make them required, or remove fields from your form altogether

There are more ways to customize your form (logos, cover images, etc.), especially if you have a paid account. You can even share your form among team members so that everyone working in sales can add the new leads they discover.

Now that we’ve built our base and created a form to automate lead collection, we can dive into finding the nearest lead to our current location.

3. Create a Custom Map of Your Airtable Leads

View Airtable Leads in a full screen map

If your lead base doesn’t contain exact locations like addresses or latitude and longitude coordinates, it might make sense to just sort your base by city, state, or country to find which lead is closest to your location.

But if you have access to more specific location data, or you just want a way to identify your closest leads on the go, mapping your points may be your best bet.
There are two ways to do so in Airtable, as we discussed in a previous post.

Because the first involves many steps, including obtaining a Google Maps API Key, we’ll go over the second option:

• Ensure the location information in your Airtable base has its own single line text fields
• Click Grid view and select Download CSV
• Open your web browser and navigate to batchgeo.com
• Drag and drop your downloaded file to the location data box, then click Map Your Data and watch as the geocoder performs its process
• Check to make sure you have the proper location data fields available under “Validate and Set Options”
• Select Show Advanced Options to customize marker labels, colors, shapes, and map styles
• After any updates, click Make Map. When you’re done, Save & Continue
  • Optional: link your Airtable base in the Description, then click Save Map

Yet, we don’t have to stop here. While you can access your new map on your phone, which is already more helpful than a table full of addresses for seeing locations while traveling, you needn’t just estimate the map location closest to you at any given time.

Search or Measure Your Nearest Lead

Our last step is to pinpoint exactly which lead is closest to us using our map.

Using the Search bar in the upper right-hand corner of our map, enter your current address or the address of the hotel you’re staying at during your trip. When you press Enter on your keyboard, the nearest point on our map will pop up, taking away the guesswork of eyeballing it from the map—or worse—from your Airtable base.

Map your Airtable base today at batchgeo.com.

From Aerosmith to Roger Waters, there are only several artists who performed tours that spanned 150+ shows. What else do these artists and their very long tours have in common?

There are only so many concert venues in the world, so these artists played many of the same venues—some more than once. So let’s take a look at 10 of the longest concert tours and then which of their 820+ stadiums they have in common, giving you a glimpse into the world of epic musical tours.

View Common Stadiums of the 10 Largest Concert Tours in a full screen map

Ten of the Longest Concert Tours

Before we can get to the 823 different stadiums where the artists of the 10 longest concert tours played, let’s first take a look which concert tours even played the most shows.

Artist	Tour	No. of Shows
Bob Dylan	Never Ending Tour	3,000+
Bruce Springsteen	Tunnel of Love Express	384
Elton John	Farewell Yellow Brick Road	300
Ed Sheeran	÷ Tour	255
Metallica	Wherever We May Roam	234
Aerosmith	Get a Grip	231
Roger Waters	The Wall Live	219
Pink Floyd	Momentary Lapse of Reason	198
Guns N’ Roses	Use Your Illusion	194
Janet Jackson	Rhythm Nation	194
Metallica	Death Magnetic	180

Each of the 10 longest tours played 150+ shows. Aside from Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour (which is not included on the map due to it being ongoing), Bruce Springsteen performed 384 shows for his 1988 Tunnel of Love Express tour, making it the second longest in history. Beyond this, only Elton John and his 2018-2023 Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour has hit 300 shows.

The top tours aside, two Metallica tours surpassed 150 shows: the 1991-1993 Wherever We May Roam tour (234 shows) and the more recent Death Magnetic tour (180).

Speaking of the Wherever We May Roam tour, it’s one of two of the top 10 that began in 1991. In fact, the ’90s as a whole is when most of these tours took place:

• 1990: Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation tour (194 shows)
• 1991: Metallica’s Wherever We May Roam (234) & Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion tour (194)
• 1993: Aerosmith’s Get a Grip tour (231)

After the ’90s, there were three extra-long in the 2010s: Roger Waters’s The Wall Live tour, Ed Sheeran’s ÷ Tour, and Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

Now we can move on to the common stadiums of these really, really, really long tours.

Most Common Stadiums of the Longest Tours

With an understanding of the longest concert tours, it’s time to crowd dive into the stadiums they have in common. The following list represents the top venues that have hosted the most number of shows played by the artists with the largest concert tours.

• Madison Square Garden – 27 shows
• The O 2 Arena – 18
• Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy – 16
• Rosemont Horizon – 15
• Nassau Coliseum – 15
• Capital Centre – 15
• The Palace of Auburn Hills – 13
• Rod Laver Arena – 13
• Wembley Stadium – 12
• Tacoma Dome – 12
• Richfield Coliseum – 12

The most commonly played stadium is Madison Square Garden. This New York City venue holds up to 20,000 concert-goers and tops the list. MSG, as it’s sometimes called, was home to 27 different concerts from the longest tour list. Not every artist on the list played this NYC venue—while some have played more than once.

In 2018, Elton John said that The Garden was his “favorite venue in the whole wide world,” so it’s no surprise that eight of the 27 shows were performed by him throughout his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour. Bruce Springsteen seemed equally enamored with the venue with five shows coming from his “Tunnel of Love Express.” Three tours: Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion,” Pink Floyd’s “Momentary Lapse of Reason,” and Roger Waters’ “The Wall Live” also played The Garden three times each during their respective tours. On the other hand, neither Ed Sheeran during his “÷ Tour” nor Metallica on their “Wherever We May Roam” tour played at The Garden.

Madison Square Garden is followed by The O2 Arena in London with 18 shows. A whopping 10 of those once again came from Elton John and six from Roger Waters’ “The Wall Live” tour.

Click around on the map to discover which other long-touring artists have played at these venues. Then, check out the highest-attended concerts. Or, if you have more of an interest in sports, head on over to our map of former, current, and future MLB stadiums.

Nothing quenches a thrill seeker’s thirst quite like an amusement park. While Ferris wheels are popular, as are bumper cars and the like, roller coasters usually draw the largest crowd, and for good reason.

These rides have height, drops, speed, and more—though not all are equal in these factors. So let’s take a look at the tallest and fastest among the world’s coasters, in search of the ultimate thrill.

View Roller coaster rankings in a full screen map

The Tallest Roller Coasters: From Height to Drop Length

All of the tallest coasters are made of steel. In fact, the tallest steel coaster (456 ft.) is three times the height of the tallest wooden coaster (127 ft.)! That’s a huge height discrepancy, and there are many other coasters beyond the wooden leader.

Here are the very tallest of the tall:

• Kingda Ka – 456 ft. tall
• Top Thrill Dragster – 420
• Superman: Escape from Krypton – 415
• Red Force – 367.3
• Fury 325 – 325
• Steel Dragon 2000 – 318.3
• Millennium Force – 310
• Leviathan – 306
• Intimidator 305 – 305
• Orion – 287

Kingda Ka is the tallest among these rides, towering at an impressive height of 456 feet or 139 meters. It’s closely followed by Top Thrill Dragster at 420 feet (130 meters) and Superman: Escape from Krypton at 415 feet (126 meters). All three of these roller coasters are located in the United States, though at different parks: Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, Cedar Point in Ohio, and Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, respectively.

The majority (7) of the tallest roller coasters in the world are located in the U.S. In addition to those already mentioned, Fury 325, Millennium Force, Intimidator 305, and Orion are scattered throughout the nation. However, it’s far from the only country. Spain, Japan, and Canada are also represented by one coaster each: Red Force, Steel Dragon 2000, and Leviathan, respectively.

The 10 tallest of these rides are all made of steel. Wooden coasters, on the other hand, are all much shorter, as you’ll find on the map when you group the map by “Type.” However, the overall height isn’t necessarily the most important factor among these coasters, even related to height.

Drop Lengths of These Rides

Drop length is another height-related roller coaster factor. The steepest drops range from 418 to 141 feet, the lengthiest of which is, once again, Kingda Ka.

Name	Drop length (ft)	Drop length (m)
Kingda Ka	418	127
Top Thrill Dragster	400	120
Red Force	345	105
Superman: Escape from Krypton	328.1	100
Fury 325	320	98
Steel Dragon 2000	306.8	93.5
Leviathan	306	93
Millennium Force	300	91
Intimidator 305	300	91
Orion	300	91

While the table consists of the same roller coasts as the list of the tallest, several are in a different order. Red Force, for example, ranks at #3 in drop length as opposed to #4 in height. Others with shifting positions include Superman: Escape from Krypton, Leviathan, and Millennium Force.

Of course, beyond height and drop length, there’s also overall length, which you can find on the map when you group by “Length (ft).” And—not to mention—speed.

The Fastest Roller Coaster Is Over 149 Mph

Height and drop length are key to a roller coaster’s experience. However, speed just might be the most important factor for thrill seekers. The fastest of these rides flies along its track at a speed of 149.1 mph, though the rest of the fastest coasters aren’t too far behind, as you’ll see on the list below.

• Formula Rossa – 149.1mph
• Kingda Ka – 128
• Top Thrill Dragster – 120
• Red Force – 111.8
• Do-Dodonpa – 111.8
• Superman: Escape from Krypton – 100
• Ring Racer – 99.4
• Fury 325 – 95
• Steel Dragon 2000 – 95
• Millennium Force – 93

Kingda Ka is no longer king. The tallest coaster with the lengthiest drop has dropped to second place when it comes to speed. The #1 spot goes to a coaster that doesn’t even rank among the top 10 in height at 170.6 ft. tall. However, that is for safety reasons. Formula Rossa has a height restriction in place, and riders are required to wear goggles—also for their safety. If you’re still interested, you can ride Formula Rossa yourself, goggles and all, when you visit Ferrari World Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Or check it out from the front rider’s point of view:

Another thing that rolls—though perhaps not as fast as these roller coasters—is the world’s largest rollerskate. You can read more about that on the World’s Largest Map of the World’s Largest Roadside Attractions.