XL: How to Create a Map with Microsoft Data Map

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, you can use Microsoft Map (Microsoft Data Map in Microsoft Excel 7.0) to graphically represent data that is associated with geographic regions. This article describes how to create a map on a worksheet in Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

The process of creating a map using Data Map/Microsoft Map consists of the following steps:

1. Select the geographic data.

2. Create the map.

3. Customize the map.

Select the Geographic Data

The first step in generating a map is to select the data that will appear on the map. For Microsoft Map (Data Map in version 7.0) to correctly generate a map, the selected data must be arranged in columns, where one column contains geographic data, such as country names, states, or postal codes.

In this example, enter the following data in cells A1:B4:

   A1: Country     B1: Total Sales
   A2: Denmark     B2: $17,459
   A3: France      B3: $11,814
   A4: Italy       B4: $18,449

NOTE: If you use postal codes as your geographic data, you must format them with the zip code number format before you create your map.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q131929
   TITLE     : XL: Zip Codes in Data Map Must Be Formatted with Zip
               Code Style

Create the Map

After you select the data, use the following steps:

1. Click Map on the Insert menu, or click the Map (called Data Map in version 7.0) tool.

2. Click and drag on the worksheet to create the map.

   Data Map examines the selected data and determines whether more than one map can be used. If the data matches more than one map and the map is installed, the Multiple Maps Available dialog box appears.

3. Select a map in the Multiple Maps Available dialog box, and then click OK.

   The map you selected appears in the worksheet, and the Microsoft Map (Data Map in version 7.0) Control dialog box appears.

Customize the Map

After you insert the map, you can use the Microsoft Map (Data Map in version 7.0) Control dialog box to modify what data appears on the map and how the data is represented.

All six formats that Data Map can use for presenting your data are represented as icons at the lower-left side of the Microsoft Map (Data Map in version 7.0) Control dialog box. The following table lists the six formats and how they represent data:

   Format                 Data presentation
   --------------------------------------------------------------------

   Value Shading          Depth of color represents rank.

   Dot Density            A dot represents data, where each dot is some
                          known quantity.

   Pie Chart              A small pie chart represents data for each
                          geographic area.

   Category Shading       A different color represents data belonging
                          to a different category.

   Graduated Symbol       A symbol represents data, where the size of
                          the symbol indicates data size.

   Column Chart           A small column chart represents data for each
                          geographic area.

1. To use a format, click the icon and drag it to the light gray Format area to the right of the format icons.

   Each heading for the geographic data that you select is represented at the top of the Microsoft Map (or Data Map) Control dialog box as a moveable box. Note that when you place the pointer on top of the box, the pointer turns into a handle.

2. Drag the data box to be associated with the format you selected earlier to the gray Column area. To remove a data type, drag the data box from the Column area to the top of the dialog box.

3. When you finish customizing the map, close the dialog box.

4. To add labels to identify countries, regions, or cities, click the Map Labels button, and click each point at which you want to place a label. Data Map automatically inserts the label for you.

5. To add a text box, click the "Add Text" toolbar button, click into your map and type the text.

REFERENCES

For more information about Data Map, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

   data map

Data Map also contains online Help for you to use. To access Data Map Help, click Data Map Help Topics on the Help menu while Data Map is open.