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A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Excel Maps

Excel Maps Feature

This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of creating Excel maps from start to finish. You’ll get sample data, add it to Excel, and create an effective map.

With a few simple steps, you’ll be able to create a stunning choropleth map in Microsoft Excel. So let’s get started!

READ MORE: What is a Choropleth Map?

Preparing the Data

Before you can start, it’s important to prepare your data so that it’s optimized for mapping. There are a few things you will want to consider before importing the data.

First, you have to know that Excel can already recognize data if it exists as countries, states, counties, etc. As long as you have a column with a geography data type, you can plot it out in Excel. But keep in mind limitations may apply to what you can actually plot out in Excel.

In our example, we are using countries and GDP as two separate columns. You can scroll down to the bottom of this page to check out our sample data (click here to scroll down). If you want to follow along, simply highlight the table. Then, copy and paste it into Excel to import the data into your spreadsheet.

Creating a Choropleth Map

Now that you have the sample data in Excel, you can start creating your first map in Excel. First, you want to highlight both the country and GDP columns.

Once you’ve highlighted the data, select the “Insert” tab and click the “Filled map” button. This will create a choropleth map using the data that you’ve selected.

If you followed the steps correctly up to this point, the map should look similar to the choropleth map below.

Microsoft Excel Map

Customizing the Map

Now that you’ve created a choropleth map, it’s time to make it your own! There are a few things you can do to customize your map. All options are available in the “Chart Design” tab.

  • Color palette – If you don’t like the default color palette, you can easily change it with the “Change Colors” option. After selecting this option, there are a few different color palettes that are available for you to customize.
  • Quick layouts – This option is to quickly change the look and feel of the map. For instance, you can move the legend to appear on the right or left.  Alternatively, you can include labels for your maps. But in our case, they’re difficult to see because the values are too long.
  • Chart styles – If you’re looking to alter the background and style of your map, you can do it by using the “chart styles” functionality. In the map below, we changed the background to show a dark gray color and the color palette to blue.
Microsoft Excel Map Layout
Customizing a map in Microsoft Excel

Summary: Excel Maps

Excel maps are a simple and effective way to visualize data for a geographic area. In this type of visual, the areas of a map are represented by different shades. Each shade represents a value, in our case, it’s GDP by country.

Making Excel maps is easier than you might think. With a few basic steps, you learned how to create a map in Excel that depicts GDP by country. The results are effective and provide a visual to the map reader.

If you’re looking for more information, check out Microsoft’s guide on how to create a map chart in Excel. This page also provides a sample worksheet that you can download with map chart examples.

Sample Data

Do you want to copy the map that we made in Excel? Use this sample data to build your very own choropleth map in Excel.

RankCountryGDP
1United States$19,485,394,000,000
2China$12,237,700,000,000
3Japan$4,872,415,000,000
4Germany$3,693,204,000,000
5India$2,650,725,000,000
6United Kingdom$2,637,866,000,000
7France$2,582,501,000,000
8Brazil$2,053,595,000,000
9Italy$1,943,835,000,000
10Canada$1,647,120,000,000
11Russia$1,578,417,000,000
12South Korea$1,530,751,000,000
13Australia$1,323,421,000,000
14Spain$1,314,314,000,000
15Mexico$1,150,888,000,000
16Indonesia$1,015,421,000,000
17Turkey$851,549,000,000
18Netherlands$830,573,000,000
19Saudi Arabia$686,738,000,000
20Switzerland$678,965,000,000
21Argentina$637,430,000,000
22Sweden$535,607,000,000
23Poland$526,466,000,000
24Belgium$494,764,000,000
25Thailand$455,303,000,000
26Iran$454,013,000,000
27Austria$416,836,000,000
28Norway$399,489,000,000
29United Arab Emirates$382,575,000,000
30Nigeria$375,745,000,000
31Israel$353,268,000,000
32South Africa$348,872,000,000
33Hong Kong$341,449,000,000
34Ireland$331,430,000,000
35Denmark$329,866,000,000
36Singapore$323,907,000,000
37Malaysia$314,710,000,000
38Colombia$314,458,000,000
39Philippines$313,595,000,000
40Pakistan$304,952,000,000
41Chile$277,076,000,000
42Finland$252,302,000,000
43Bangladesh$249,724,000,000
44Egypt$235,369,000,000
45Vietnam$223,780,000,000
46Portugal$219,308,000,000
47Czech Republic (Czechia)$215,914,000,000
48Romania$211,884,000,000
49Peru$211,389,000,000
50New Zealand$204,139,000,000
51Greece$203,086,000,000
52Iraq$192,061,000,000
53Algeria$167,555,000,000
54Qatar$166,929,000,000
55Kazakhstan$162,887,000,000
56Hungary$139,761,000,000
57Angola$122,124,000,000
58Kuwait$120,126,000,000
59Sudan$117,488,000,000
60Ukraine$112,154,000,000
61Morocco$109,709,000,000
62Ecuador$104,296,000,000
63Cuba$96,851,000,000
64Slovakia$95,618,000,000
65Sri Lanka$87,357,000,000
66Ethiopia$80,561,000,000
67Kenya$79,263,000,000
68Dominican Republic$75,932,000,000
69Guatemala$75,620,000,000
70Oman$70,784,000,000
71Myanmar$67,069,000,000
72Luxembourg$62,316,000,000
73Panama$62,284,000,000
74Ghana$58,997,000,000
75Bulgaria$58,221,000,000
76Costa Rica$57,286,000,000
77Uruguay$56,157,000,000
78Croatia$55,213,000,000
79Belarus$54,456,000,000
80Lebanon$53,577,000,000
81Tanzania$53,321,000,000
82Macao$50,361,000,000
83Uzbekistan$49,677,000,000
84Slovenia$48,770,000,000
85Lithuania$47,544,000,000
86Serbia$41,432,000,000
87Azerbaijan$40,748,000,000
88Jordan$40,068,000,000
89Tunisia$39,952,000,000
90Paraguay$39,667,000,000
91Libya$38,108,000,000
92Turkmenistan$37,926,000,000
93DR Congo$37,642,000,000
94Bolivia$37,509,000,000
95Côte d’Ivoire$37,353,000,000
96Bahrain$35,433,000,000
97Cameroon$34,923,000,000
98Yemen$31,268,000,000
99Latvia$30,463,000,000
100Estonia$26,612,000,000
101Uganda$25,995,000,000
102Zambia$25,868,000,000
103Nepal$24,880,000,000
104El Salvador$24,805,000,000
105Iceland$24,488,000,000
106Honduras$22,979,000,000
107Cambodia$22,158,000,000
108Trinidad and Tobago$22,079,000,000
109Cyprus$22,054,000,000
110Zimbabwe$22,041,000,000
111Senegal$21,070,000,000
112Papua New Guinea$20,536,000,000
113Afghanistan$19,544,000,000
114Bosnia and Herzegovina$18,055,000,000
115Botswana$17,407,000,000
116Laos$16,853,000,000
117Mali$15,334,000,000
118Georgia$15,081,000,000
119Gabon$15,014,000,000
120Jamaica$14,781,000,000
121State of Palestine$14,498,000,000
122Nicaragua$13,814,000,000
123Mauritius$13,266,000,000
124Namibia$13,254,000,000
125Albania$13,039,000,000
126Mozambique$12,646,000,000
127Malta$12,518,000,000
128Burkina Faso$12,323,000,000
129Equatorial Guinea$12,294,000,000
130Bahamas$12,162,000,000
131Brunei $12,128,000,000
132Armenia$11,537,000,000
133Madagascar$11,500,000,000
134Mongolia$11,434,000,000
135North Macedonia$11,280,000,000
136Guinea$10,473,000,000
137Chad$9,871,000,000
138Benin$9,247,000,000
139Rwanda$9,135,000,000
140Congo$8,701,000,000
141Haiti$8,408,000,000
142Moldova$8,128,000,000
143Niger$8,120,000,000
144Kyrgyzstan$7,565,000,000
145Tajikistan$7,146,000,000
146Malawi$6,303,000,000
147Guam$5,859,000,000
148Fiji$5,061,000,000
149Mauritania$5,025,000,000
150Maldives$4,866,000,000
151Montenegro$4,845,000,000
152Togo$4,758,000,000
153Barbados$4,674,000,000
154Eswatini$4,434,000,000
155Sierra Leone$3,775,000,000
156Guyana$3,621,000,000
157Liberia$3,285,000,000
158Burundi$3,172,000,000
159Andorra$3,013,000,000
160Suriname$2,996,000,000
161Timor-Leste$2,955,000,000
162Aruba$2,701,000,000
163Lesotho$2,578,000,000
164Bhutan$2,528,000,000
165Central African Republic$1,949,000,000
166Belize$1,863,000,000
167Cabo Verde$1,773,000,000
168Saint Lucia$1,738,000,000
169San Marino$1,633,000,000
170Northern Mariana Islands$1,593,000,000
171Antigua and Barbuda$1,510,000,000
172Seychelles$1,498,000,000
173Gambia$1,489,000,000
174Guinea-Bissau$1,347,000,000
175Solomon Islands$1,303,000,000
176Grenada$1,127,000,000
177Comoros$1,068,000,000
178Saint Kitts & Nevis$992,000,000
179Vanuatu$863,000,000
180Samoa$841,000,000
181St. Vincent & Grenadines$785,000,000
182American Samoa$634,000,000
183Dominica$497,000,000
184Tonga$428,000,000
185Sao Tome & Principe$393,000,000
186Micronesia$336,000,000
187Palau$290,000,000
188Marshall Islands$204,000,000
189Kiribati$186,000,000
190Tuvalu$40,000,000
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