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Use a Map Chart to represent geographic and location data

Renée VG
Renée VG
  • Updated

Available on the following Venngage subscription plans: Free, Premium, Business and Enterprise.

Use Map Charts to create engaging, colorful representations of information that shows how data values vary across a geographical area.

Pssst 🤫

For a quick overview of how
to add and use map charts in 
your designs, check out our
VIDEO Quick Start Guide.

 

Add map charts to your design

Click Maps on the left panel and double-click or drag the map you want onto the canvas.

An animated GIF of a user in the Venngage editor opening the Map tab in the left-hand menu and dragging a choropleth-style map of Canada from the menu onto a design canvas. The map is colored in different shades of blue and the design canvas background is a yellow gradient.

 

Choose from the following maps:

  • Canada

  • United States

Premium, Business and Enterprise users can also access:

  • United Kingdom (Great Britain & Northern Ireland)

  • Australia

  • Europe

  • Africa

  • Asia

  • World Map

  • Individual Canadian provinces and American states

 

Edit the values for your map

Double-click the map or click Edit Map in the top toolbar to open the map values.

An animated GIF of a user in the Venngage editor clicking Edit Map in the top toolbar, with a map of Canada selected on the design canvas. On the right-hand side of the screen, the map panel overlay opens to the Data tab, displaying a table containing the names of the provinces and the numeric values associated with each. As the user enters different values into the table, the shades of the blue color in certain regions on the map change to reflect the new value inputs.

Under the Data tab, edit the values associated with each region on the map by clicking into the cell you want to edit and entering the value, or copy-paste from an external spreadsheet.

On a choropleth map (pictured above), the regions on the map change colors based on the maximum and minimum value.

On a bubble map (pictured below), the circles superimposed over the regions on the map will change size based on the maximum and minimum value.

Changes to the data in a cell will save automatically when you select another cell or press the Enter/Return key.

 

An animated GIF of a user in the Venngage editor. The map editing panel is open on the Data tab, overlaying a blue bubble map of Canada with yellow circles of varying size on a design canvas with a yellow gradient background. The user changes the numeric values in the table. As the user enters different values into the table, the size of the yellow circles over certain regions on the map changes to reflect the new value inputs.

 

Change the colors of your map's data values

Double-click the map or click Edit Map in the top toolbar to open the map values. Click the Settings tab in the "Edit Map" panel.

Under Map type, change the colors, gradient and number of steps between two colors on a choropleth map, or to change the map from a choropleth to a bubble-style map.

Any changes you make are saved automatically and are visible on the design canvas.

An animated GIF of a user in the Venngage editor. The user selects a blue map of Canada on a design canvas with a yellow gradient background. The Edit Map panel overlay appears on the right side of the screen. The user clicks the Settings tab and scrolls town to Map type, where they change the map from Steps to Gradient and then back. The change the number of steps to 4 and click on a Preset colour gradient, changing the color of the map from a sequence of blues to purple shades.

 

Customize specific map chart settings

Choropleth map

  • Change the Scale type to "Gradient" or "Steps".

    • Use Gradient to choose two colors under the "Color palette" or "Presets" and automatically generates a smooth transition between those two colors.

    • Use Steps to create a gradient of 2 to 9 steps with automatically rounded values, or supply the values yourself to determine which number ranges are displayed as which color in the gradient. Choose from six "Presets" to customize the gradient color.

Bubble map

  • Control colors on the map with the Color palette

    • Click the color for Map to change the color of the map itself

    • Click the color for Bubble to change the color of the circles displayed on the map

Both Maps

  • Border: Customize the color and opacity of the borders between regions on the map by clicking the color for "Border"

  • Background: Add a color to the background of the map and control its opacity by clicking the color for "Background"

  • Border width: Widen or narrow the borders between the regions on your map with the slider or the number box.

VENNGAGE MAKES IT EASY

Large geographic areas on maps naturally draw
more attention because of the visual space they take up.
Add custom color, text and icons to your chart
to bring focus to the data you want to highlight most. 

Venngage's Editor provides chart settings that let
you toggle legends, data (in numerals or percentages) and
labels on and off, and create custom gradients for your
choropleth map with colors that draw viewers' eyes
to the right place. 

Customize how legends, titles and other data display across the map

Double-click the map or click Edit Map in the top toolbar to open the map values.

Click the Settings tab in the "Edit Map" panel.

Any changes you make are saved automatically and are visible on the design canvas.

Use the toggle switches to enable or disable the display of some or all of the following elements on your map:

*The "Legend" feature is specific to choropleth maps and is not displayed for bubble maps.

 

An animated GIF of the Edit Map panel, with the Settings tab selected. The user clicks the toggle beside 'Title' to turn the feature on and expand the menu with customizable settings for that feature; they repeat that process for 'Labels' and 'Legend'.

 

From under each features' section, customize what is displayed.

 

Title

  • Title: Change the title of your chart by entering text into the box.

  • Style: Customize font face, size, style and color from the drop-downs and color-picker.

  • Alignment: shift the title's position over the map to Left, Center or Right.

The 'Title' section of the Settings panel with controls as described above.

 

Labels

  • Format: Select either "Name" or "Value" to display those labels on the map

    • Name will display region names* for the areas on the map.

    • Value will display the numerical value associated with the map region.

  • Style: Customize font face, size, style and color from the drop-downs and color-picker.

  • Text Shadow: click the toggle button to enable or disable text shadow on the labels.

The 'Labels' section of the Settings panel with controls as described above.
 

VENNGAGE MAKES IT EASY

Maps come with the region, province and
state names pre-loaded and attached to the
represented region so that they display
correctly—no need to add them in manually!

 

Legend

This option will only appear if you are using the Choropleth Map chart style.

  • Title: Change the title of your chart by entering text into the box.

  • Style: Customize font face, size, style and color from the drop-downs and color-picker.

  • Alignment: shift the legend's position relative to the map:

    • Above

    • Under

    • Left

    • Right

  • Corner Rounding: round the corners on the background of the legend when the border width value is equal to "1" or more, by adjusting the slider or entering a numeric value.

  • Border width: enlarge or shrink the width of the border that appears around the legend, by adjusting the slider or entering a numeric value.

  • Border: Change the color and opacity of the border clicking on the color picker.

  • Background: Change the color and opacity of the legend's background by clicking on the color picker.

The 'Legend' section of the Settings panel with controls as described above.

 

Use the hover feature to highlight your data.

For an interactive view of your map that further highlights the data, preview or share your design.

To generate an interactive preview of your design, click the Preview button on the right side of the top toolbar, as shown in the GIF below:

An animated GIF of a user clicking the Preview button as described above. The button is white, with a green border and the word Preview in green, and appears in the top toolbar between a grey download icon and the Share button.

 

To share an interactive version of your design, click the Share button on the right side of the top toolbar, as show in the GIF below:

An animated GIF of a user clicking the Share button as described above. The button is solid green with the word Share which appears in white lettering. It appears in the top toolbar between the Preview button and the Comment speech bubble icon. When the user clicks Share, an overlay panel opens and the user clicks the green Copy link button under the Public link section at the bottom.

 

This will generate an interactive HTML-based version of your design. The "hover" feature highlights sections of your map, displaying region labels and values when you mouse over the area (seen on a choropleth map in the GIF below).

An animated GIF where a user mouses over a choropleth map of Canada titled 'Ice Cream Lovers by Canadian Province'. The provinces appear in shades of light to dark pink; when the user's mouse passes over each province, the color changes to yellow and an alt text box displaying the province name and numeric value appears.

 

Customize the "hover" color before you preview or share your design

Open your map chart design in the editor.

Double-click into the map or click Edit Map to open the settings to customize the map.

Click the Settings tab.

An animated GIF of the Venngage editor with the Edit Map panel overlay visible over a choropleth map on the design canvas. A user clicks the Settings tab and opens the color-picker under Hover as described above, changing the selected color from yellow to purple.

Expand the Hover section at the bottom of the panel.

Click on the color-picker to select your desired color, or select a color from your Brand Color swatches.

Any changes you make to the map settings will be reflected on the design canvas and saved automatically.

VENNGAGE MAKES IT EASY

The hover feature displays region
names and numeric values on a bubble map
but will not change the colors of the
circles displayed.

An animated GIF of a user mousing over a bubble map version of the 'Ice Cream Lovers by Canadian Province' represented in the choropleth map above. When the user's mouse passes over the circle on each province, an alt text box displaying the province name and numeric value appears.

 

The hover feature is perfect for sharing your design virtually or in a meeting where viewers want to see the exact data associated with each of the regions represented on your map.

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Curious about upgrading? Compare our plan features side by side.

 

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