SOLVED: VIDEO: Easy Way To Plot Cities on a Map Using Excel

If you have tried to use Excel’s new(ish) chart to map feature you will find how easy it is to use.  However, it does only supports Countries and Provinces/States, so if you try to INSERT > CHART > MAP with city data you will see:

MAP CHART NEEDS GEOGRAPHICAL DATA SUCH AS COUNTRY/REGION, STATE/PROVINCE OR POSTAL CODE. CHECK YOUR DATA AND TRY AGAIN

However, there is a very simple way around this problem as shown in the video below:

1. Insert > Chart > Bubble Chart – ignore how bad it looks
2. Note that Latitude and Longitude in the columns to the right of each city
3. Set your chart boundaries to the lat and long’s
4. Set the data to the appropriate ranges
5. Replace the background with a graphic of the region you want mapped

This sounds more complex than it is.  In this video we show you each step and that it is not that hard to do.