Power Map in Excel 2013

 Oct 30, 2015

If you are using Office 365 Pro Plus or Excel 2013, you can take advantage of Power Map for Excel. Power Map is a three-dimensional (3-D) data visualisation tool that lets you look at information in new ways by using geographic and time-based data. You can discover insights that you might not see in traditional two-dimensional (2-D) tables and charts. Power Map is built into Office 365 Pro Plus, but you will need to download a preview version to use it with Office 2013 or Excel 2013.

With Power Map, you can plot geographic and temporal data on a 3-D globe or custom map, show it over time, and create visual tours you can share with other people. You’ll want to use Power Map to:

  • Map data Plot more than a million rows of data visually on Bing maps in 3-D format from an Excel table or Data Model in Excel.
  • Discover insights Gain new understandings by viewing your data in geographic space and seeing time-stamped data change over time.
  • Share stories Capture screenshots and build cinematic, guided video tours you can share broadly, engaging audiences like never before. Or export tours to video and share them that way as well.

You will find the Map button in the Tours group on the Insert tab of the Excel ribbon, as shown in this picture.

Create your first Power Map

When you have Excel data that has geographic properties in table format or in a Data Model—for example, rows and columns that have names of cities, states, counties, zip codes, countries/regions, or longitudes and latitudes—you’re ready to get started. Here’s how:

  1. In Excel, open a workbook that has the table or Data Model data you want to explore in Power Map.
  2. Click any cell in the table.
  3. Click Insert > Map. Clicking Map for the first time automatically enables Power Map.

Power Map uses Bing to geocode your data based on its geographic properties. After a few seconds, the globe will appear next to the first screen of the Layer Pane.

  1. In the Layer Pane, verify that fields are mapped correctly and click the drop-down arrow of any incorrectly mapped fields to match them to the right geographic properties.
  2. For example, make sure that Zip Code is recognized as Zip in the drop-down box.

    Img 2

  3. When Power Map plots the data, dots appear on the globe.
  4. Img 3

  5. Click Next to start aggregating and further visualising your data on the map.

For more information, have a look at New Horizons' Excel 2013 training.

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About the Author:

Magdalena Todor  

With over 20 years experience as a facilitator and university lecturer, Magda is one of our most senior and experienced trainers. With previous practical on the job experience as a project manager she embodies a brilliant balance of training experience and business knowledge. With every event she delivers, Magda takes a wholehearted approach to ensure every course is impactful, relevant and a genuinely positive learning experience for all.

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