A few months ago I posted my semi-automated, RCDB linked count chart, heavily based on
this one I found on Reddit. I've continued working on it since, modifying some of the code and the appearance, and it's at a point where I can share a blank template if anyone else wants to use it
Coaster Chart
First thing to do is make a copy for yourself, and the first time you run it you'll need to give permission for the code to run.
When you open the file for the first time, you'll find columns for your creds on the left. Enter the names of coasters and parks as they appear on RCDB, and the 'Pull Empty IDs' button will provide the ID. OR you can enter the ID. Anything that isn't on RCDB should go in the second set of columns. Travelling coasters usually don't appear on RCDB and coasters with multiple tracks show up on the same listing. If you enter a ride name differently, for example if you specify which side of a two track coaster, or if RCDB doesn't include a 'The', or the ride has had a name change, you will have to enter the ID manually.
In the middle you can set yourself a target
On the right is a list of countries and their ISO codes, you don't need to do anything with this. Then a list of parks, their RCDB IDs and their logos. This is my list of parks, you'll have to put in your own and find the ID and logos yourself - the next job for me is to automate the ID scraping for the parks too. I've left this in so that you can see how to add logos.
Once you've hit the button, your ID column will be full, but check for any missing entries. The new coasters at Emerald don't show up for some reason so will need doing manually.
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Once you've done this, you can go to the Extended Stats sheet, where you'll find your coasters, parks and park logos have already been imported. Clicking the coaster or the park will take you to their RCDB pages. Hit the refresh button at the top and the gaps will start to be filled in. It will provide the region and country, with flag, the name of the manufacturer, construction and seating, and a load of stats. There's a few errors with the API - some stats will be wrong, I've noticed Stampida and Winjas so far, and there hasn't been an update for a while so coasters opening in 2024 show as still under construction.
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I like to convert to dropdown chips, I think it looks nicer, but there is a limit to how many countries you can have before Sheets stops detecting it and you'll have to convert it yourself. PortAventura returns Catalonia as the country, so if you want the flag to appear you'll have to change it to Spain, but let's not get into that...
Coasters not on RCDB will have to be entered manually at the bottom, too.
Not every bit of data is available for every coaster, and there's columns the RCDB API just can't fill, such as specific model, whether it's powered or gravity, deaths, and personal information such as when you rode it. I've also included optional coloumns for rating coasters for things like fun and intensity, and a ranking list. Here is mine as it looks now.
There's also a summary page and some graphs
The next tasks will be to automate finding the park ID, adding in more graphs and summary stats, making the code more robust and seeing what can be done about the RCDB API errors.
But of course, the idea is you can make it your own, change the colours, columns, mess with the code, etc.
Whenever you ride a new coaster, the process is the same. Enter the name and park at the bottom of the Data Input list, run the script to get the ID, then refresh the Extended Stats spreadsheet. Just watch out that if you use dropdowns and the script wants to add an entry that isn't already there, the script will fail, so if you know that's the case (eg you've been to a new country) remove data validation first then add it back in.
Obviously this is extremely nerdy, even by the standards of 'going on loads of rollercoasters and keeping track of them' but I enjoy it and thought I'd make it available for anyone else who might be interested in having more than just a plain list.