3D Maps in Excel (Table of Content)
3D Maps in Excel
3D Maps in Excel is a three-dimensional visualization tool which is used to map and graph a huge amount of data which is country or region-wise arranged. Sometimes data is so huge that we cannot apply the filter or plot regular graphs.
How to Access 3D Maps in Excel?
To access 3D Maps, go to Insert menu, under Power Map section select or click on Maps.
Steps to Download 3D Maps in Excel 2013
3D Maps are already inbuilt in Excel 2016. But for Excel 2013, we need to download and install packages as the add-in. This can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. For Excel 2013, 3D Maps are named as Power Maps. We can directly search this in Microsoft website as shown below.
Downloading Step 1
Downloading Step 2
Downloading Step 3
Download Power Map and Install it. Now to implement in Excel Menu bar, go to the File menu.
Once we click on we will see the Excel options window. In that go to Add-ins and in Manage select COM Add-ins and click on Go as shown below screenshot.
After clicking on Go, it will take us to COM Add-Ins box, and Tick Mark on Microsoft Power Map to Excel and click on OK as shown below. This will allow installed Microsoft Power Map to be configured in Microsoft Excel 2013.
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Once this is done, we will be able to see Map in Insert menu under Power Map section as shown below. With this, we can configure Power Map or 3D Map in Excel 2013.
For creating 3D Map also known as Power Map in Excel 2013, we have some sample data of top-ranked companies in the world. (This can be downloaded from Wikipedia)
Create 3D Maps in Excel
As we can see in the below data we have the name of companies region wise and ranking as per sector category. Then Revenue column will be the key to be seen in 3D Map because the kind of numbers it has, it will be seen good in 3D towers.
Now for creating 3D Map, first select the complete data in which we want to plot 3D Map, then go to Insert menu, under Power Maps select Maps. Once we do that, we will get the Launch Power Map window as shown below. From New Tour.
This will take us to real 3D or Power Map as we can see in the below screenshot.
And data which we selected for 3D Map, can be mapped from the right side of the screen.
As we can see selected data column names are already been mapped with 3D map. Now let’s link it with the map. Go to the right side of the window we will see the layer panel. Now select columns in which need to create layers for reference. Here we have selected Company Name and Country Name in location. Here we also selected Country in category and Revenue in height as shown below.
Here we can modify graph Opacity, Thickness, and Height in layer option as per our need.
Once we have done with all the parameter setup, we will see mapped revenue on country center as shown below. As we can see in below screenshot, Layer 1 window has all the list country and in the 3D globe with different color towers which represent revenue gained by listed companies.
Here is the default stacked columns as shown below.
We can replace Country with Company name. Let’s see below how it will look.
When we selected Company name in place of Country then all the companies which belong to that country in the map are visible and for a better view, for this, we have selected cluster column instead of default stacked columns as shown below.
This completes 3D Map creation from Power Maps in Excel.
3D Power Map has a different Home menu as we have regular Home menu option for the simple workbook. 3D Map’s Home menu is shown below.
These are the short and precise options provided by Microsoft to make 3D map more creative and easy to under for regular audience. Some of the import options are;
Map Labels – This labels all the location, area, country on the map.
Flat Map – It makes the 3D map into 2D map in a beautiful way, worth trying it.
Find Location – We can find any location by this all around the world.
Refresh Data – If anything is updated in data, to make it visible in the map, use this.
2D Chart – It allows us to see 3D chart in 2D.
Legend – It shows the legends used such as symbols, colors to show data in the map.
Theme – It has different themes as well. By this, we can our map more creative.
We can create a video as well by clicking on Create video icon.
Pros of 3D Maps In Excel
- It is always recommended to create a 3D map if you have data arranged region or country wise. With the help of the 3D map, we can plot it in a more creative way.
- Creating 3D map makes the user understand and analyze region wise trend more precisely.
- The geographic map makes us understand the location and country better. By this, we can judge and location country on the map and perform our analysis based on time, weather and geographical latitudes.
Cons of 3D Maps In Excel
- Compared with 2D Charts, functions in 3D maps are not much.
Things to Remember
- Always enable location so that with the help of GPS our location can also be mapped in map.
- 3D Map works better when we connect the system with the Internet.
- If you are using MS Office 2013, then follow steps shown in the Example to download and configure with Excel 2013 to use 3D Map or Power Map.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to 3D Maps in Excel. Here we discussed How to access 3D Maps in Excel and Steps to download 3D Maps in Excel 2013 along with downloadable excel template. You may also look at these useful functions in excel –
