EDUCBA Logo

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Explore
    • EDUCBA Pro
    • PRO Bundles
    • Featured Skills
    • New & Trending
    • Fresh Entries
    • Finance
    • Data Science
    • Programming and Dev
    • Excel
    • Marketing
    • HR
    • PDP
    • VFX and Design
    • Project Management
    • Exam Prep
    • All Courses
  • Blog
  • Enterprise
  • Free Courses
  • Log in
  • Sign Up
Home Excel Excel Resources Excel Charts Contour Plots in Excel
 

Contour Plots in Excel

Madhuri Thakur
Article byMadhuri Thakur

Updated August 24, 2023

contour plots in Excel

 

 

Contour Plots in Excel (Table of Contents)
  • Introduction to Contour Plots in Excel
  • How to Create Contour Plots in Excel?

Introduction to Contour Plots in Excel

Contour Plots are how you can represent the three-dimensional surface (having a length(X), Width(Y) and depth/volume(Z)) chart on a two-dimensional plane (i.e. in a plane with X and Y axis only). In this chart, lines are drawn for (x, y) coordinates where the response (z) values are occurring. Contour charts are similar to the surface charts that can be seen from above (any height) and are 2-D charts most of the time. A contour graph can be used when we have two predictors X & Y, which have an impact on the response variable Z. The values of Z in the graph are called contours. Contour graphs are frequently used in Cartography which is more associated with geocoding of the regions. However, it also has some utilization under different branches such as Astrology, Meteorology; in statistics, this type of chart is used to check the relationship between two predictors and response.

How to Create Contour Plots in Excel?

Contour Plots in Excel is very simple and easy. Let’s understand how to create the Contour Plots in Excel with some examples.

You can download this Contour Plots Excel Template  here – Contour Plots Excel Template 

Example #1 – 2D Contour Graph in Excel

Suppose we are having data of X and Y values on which the Z value is dependent (sum of logarithms to the base 10 for each corresponding X and Y header value for each column and row start). See the screenshot below.

Contour graph in Excel 1-1

Step 1: To create a graph associated with your data, select all the data from A1 to F6.

Contour graph in Excel 1-2

Step 2: Click on the “Insert” tab on the uppermost ribbon in the Microsoft Excel sheet and select the “Recommended Charts” option.

Contour graph in Excel 1-3

Step 3: Once you click the Recommended Charts option, it will open a new window named Insert Chart. There in that window, click on the All Charts option. A list of charts available under Excel will open up. Out of the different lists of charts, select Surface. Different types of surface charts (4 in number) will be visible.

Contour graph in Excel 1

Step 4: Out of the 4 surface chart options available, click on the third contour chart. Once you click on that, you’ll see a visualization of your contour graph associated with the data selected. Click on the OK button to generate the graph.

Contour graph in Excel 1-5

Step 5: Once you click the OK button, that’s it. Your chart is ready; you can see the layout shown in the image below.

Contour graph in Excel 1-6

Step 6: Add a title to this chart as the Contour graph under the Chart Title section.

contour chart

As every chart in Excel has, we have lots of customization available here for the contour graph as well. For now, we will change the color and style of this chart to make it look more decent.

Step 7: Click on the chart area, and a three-tab pane will appear on the right-hand side of the chart, as shown in the image below. Select the Chart Style icon (brush icon) out of those three.

contour chart 1

Step 8: Once you click that, you will see a pop-up bar with two options. One for style and the other for color. I will go to the color option and change the color of this chart.

CONTOUR chart 2

Step 9: Once done, the contour graph should look like the image shown below.

contour chart 3

Step 10: In this chart, the colored area represents a specific range of values. You can also see the same in legends at the bottom of the graph.

contour chart 4

Step 11: The lines visible are nothing but the interpolation points of X and Y values.

Example #2 – Wireframe Contour Chart in Excel

There is one other way to create a contour chart. Let’s see how:

Step 1: Consider the same data as used in the previous example.

contour example 2-1

Step 1: Click the Insert tab on the uppermost ribbon in Excel and select All Charts under the Recommended Graph section as we did in the previous example.

Contour graph in Excel 1-3

Step 2: Under All Charts go to Surface; you can see the four surface charts available. Out of those four, select the chronologically last chart (which appears on the rightmost pane). You will also see a layout of the contour graph.

contour graph example 2-2

Step 3: If you are happy with the graph layout, please click OK at the bottom of the Insert Chart window.

contour graph example 2-3

  • Once you click the OK button, you can see a graph layout below.

contour graph example 2-4

Step 4: Add Wireframe Contour Chart as a title under the Chart Title area for this graph.

wireframe contour chart 1-1

Step 5: In the same way we did in the first example, we can also change the wires’ color in this chart. Click on Chart Area, and a pop up with three tabs will appear on the right side of the graph. There, click on the Chart Style option, which allows you to change either the contour style, color, or both.

wireframe contour chart 1-2

Step 6: Change the graph style in the image below under the Style option for better visualization.

wireframe contour chart 1-3

  • Your graph should look like the image shown below.

wireframe contour chart 1-4

As you could have noticed, Wireframe Charts only provide a mesh of lines (wires) and not the color bands used under Contour Chart (That is why it is called Wireframe Contour). This makes Wireframes difficult to read. Therefore, regarding the contour charts, I recommend using the Contour instead of the Wireframe. It will be visually more appealing, and the color bands will make it easier for the user to understand the value relationships. This is from this article; let’s wrap it up with some things to remember.

Things to Remember About Contour Plots in Excel

  • Contour Chart is used to show the 3D surface area in the 2D top view using a different brand of color.
  • It can be used when the categories and series are both numeric.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Contour Plots in Excel. Here we discuss How to Create Contour Plots in Excel, along with practical examples and a downloadable Excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

  1. Plots in Excel
  2. Box Plot in Excel
  3. Box and Whisker Plot in Excel
  4. Dot Plots in Excel

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Follow us!
  • EDUCBA FacebookEDUCBA TwitterEDUCBA LinkedINEDUCBA Instagram
  • EDUCBA YoutubeEDUCBA CourseraEDUCBA Udemy
APPS
EDUCBA Android AppEDUCBA iOS App
Blog
  • Blog
  • Free Tutorials
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Log in
Courses
  • Enterprise Solutions
  • Free Courses
  • Explore Programs
  • All Courses
  • All in One Bundles
  • Sign up
Email
  • [email protected]

ISO 10004:2018 & ISO 9001:2015 Certified

© 2025 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA
Free Excel Course

Excel functions, formula, charts, formatting creating excel dashboard & others

By continuing above step, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you
EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

EDUCBA

Download Contour Plots Excel Template 

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

EDUCBA

Download Contour Plots Excel Template 

EDUCBA

डाउनलोड Contour Plots Excel Template 

🚀 Limited Time Offer! - 🎁 ENROLL NOW