How to Use Geo Chart in Google Sheets

A geo chart is one of the best ways to tell a story with your location-based data. Instead of just showing a table of countries or states and their numbers, you can instantly see hotspots, regional trends, and geographic patterns on an interactive map. This article will show you exactly how to prepare your data and create a powerful geo chart directly within Google Sheets.

What is a Geo Chart? A Quick Explainer

A geo chart, or geographical chart, displays data on a map. It associates numerical data with specific geographical locations, like countries, states, or even cities. By coloring in regions or placing markers over specific areas, it turns a boring spreadsheet into an insightful visual report.

This is incredibly useful for all sorts of scenarios, such as:

• Visualizing sales performance by state or country.

• Tracking website users or app downloads by region.

• Mapping out customer distribution for a service business.

• Showing survey responses from different parts of the world.

Google Sheets offers two main types of geo charts:

1. Geo chart (regions): This type colors entire regions (like countries or states) based on their data value. A color scale, usually a gradient, indicates the magnitude of the value. For example, states with higher sales might be colored dark green, while those with lower sales are light green.

2. Geo chart with markers: This type places circular markers on specific locations. The size and/or color of the marker represents the data value. This is excellent for visualizing data for cities or specific points, as coloring in an entire country for a single city's data can be misleading.

Choosing the right one depends entirely on your data and the story you want to tell. We’ll cover how to make both.

Step 1: Get Your Data Ready

The single most important step in creating a flawless geo chart is formatting your data correctly. Google Sheets needs to understand which column contains the location and which contains the value to be plotted. If your data isn't structured properly, the chart won't work.

The structure is simple: You need at least two columns.

• Column 1: The Location: This column contains the names of the regions you want to map. This could be countries, states, provinces, or cities.

• Column 2: The Value: This column holds the numerical data associated with each location. This could be sales figures, user counts, survey results, revenue, etc. A second optional text column can also be used to display text on hover.

Example Data Structure

Here’s what your data should look like. Let’s imagine we’re tracking website sessions by country for the past month.

Your Google Sheet would look like this:

A few critical tips for formatting your locations:

• Be consistent. Don't mix location types in the same column if you can avoid it. Charting countries and cities simultaneously can confuse Google Sheets. Stick to one level of geography (e.g., all countries or all states).

• Use recognized names. Google’s mapping service relies on standard geographic names. Use "United States" instead of "USA" or "United Kingdom" instead of "UK." While Google Sheets is smart, using full, official names will prevent errors. For states in the US, you can often use either the full name ("California") or the two-letter postal code ("CA").

• Headers are your friends. Always include a header row for your columns (like "Country" and "Sessions"). This makes it easier to set up the chart and lets Google Sheets label the axes for you.

Step 2: Create the Geo Chart

Once your data is clean and properly formatted, creating the chart takes just a few clicks. Follow these steps carefully.

1. Select Your Data: Click and drag your mouse to highlight the range of cells containing your data, including the headers. In our example, you would select the cells from A1 to B9.

2. Insert the Chart: With your data selected, navigate to the menu bar at the top of the screen and click Insert > Chart.

3. Choose the Geo Chart Type: Google Sheets will often be smart enough to recognize location-based data and automatically suggest a Geo chart. If it does, you're halfway there! If it defaults to a different chart type (like a bar chart or pie chart), you can easily change it. In the Chart editor pane that appears on the right, click the dropdown under Chart type. Scroll down to the Map section and select Geo chart.

And that's it! A map will instantly appear on your sheet, with the countries from your data colored according to their session counts. You can drag and resize the chart just like any other object in Google Sheets.

Step 3: Customize Your Geo Chart

The default chart is great, but the real power comes from the customization options. They allow you to refine your visualization to make it clearer and more impactful. In the Chart editor, click the Customize tab to explore these settings.

Geo Settings

This is where you'll make most of your map-specific adjustments.

• Region: By default, this is likely set to "World." However, if your data is specific to one continent or country (e.g., you're mapping states within the US), you can change it. Click the dropdown and select a more focused region like "USA" or "Europe." This removes unnecessary parts of the map and zooms in on your area of interest.

• Color axis: This section controls the color gradient that represents your values.

  • Min: Sets the color for the lowest value in your data. Light grey is a common default.

  • Max: Sets the color for the highest value. This is the color you want to use for emphasis.

  • Mid (optional): You can add a third color for values in the middle of your range.

  • Value Fields: You can also set specific numeric values for Min, Max and Mid colors. For example, if you want values below 10,000 to be yellow, between 10,000 and 20,000 orange, and values above 20,000 red, you can configure those values in each field.

Let's say you want your map to go from a light blue to a dark blue. You'd set the Min color to light blue and the Max color to dark blue. Google Sheets will automatically create the gradient for all the values in between.

Switching to a Geo Chart with Markers

What if your data involves cities? Coloring an entire country to represent one city is not ideal. This is the perfect use case for a marker chart.

1. Navigate back to the Setup tab in the Chart Editor

2. Click on the Chart type dropdown

3. Select Geo chart with markers from the Map section

The map will change to show circles over your specified locations. Under the Customize tab and in the Geo section, you will see new options:

• Marker Color: To keep it easy, you can choose to make all the color markers under a color of your choosing. It automatically assigns the color you specified to every marker in your chart, unless other color rules overwrite it.

• Customize marker colors: Add rules to customize the markers further under the section Marker color rules. Press the Add new rule button. The Rule conditions menu will show you a number of conditions and settings:

  1. Contains, doesn't contain, etc.

  2. Write a value or type text to set a text rule.

  3. Pick the color you want under the paint bucket labeled Applies the following marker format.

  4. On the right side of this option, there is an icon called advanced settings that allows customization features of marker color transparency, style, and more.

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Sometimes your geo chart might not look right or you get an error message. Here are some of the most common problems and how to solve them.

"Some data in the first column error text"

This is the most frequent issue. It means Google Sheets can't recognize one or more of the locations you've listed.

• The Fix: Double-check your spelling. A simple typo can break the chart. Standardize your names - use "United Kingdom" instead of "UK." If you're unsure, a quick search for "ISO 3166 country codes" will give you a list of standard names that machines easily recognize.

The Map Looks Strange or is Missing Regions

If some of your regions are not appearing, it is usually another data format problem.

• The Fix: Ensure your entire data range was selected correctly before you inserted the chart. Also re-verify your location names, a slightly off name might cause Sheets to skip that row entirely. Finally, confirm your data value column is formatted as Number, not Text.

By keeping your data clean and using the customization panel, you can head off most problems before they happen and create an accurate, clear, and compelling geo chart every time.

Final Thoughts

Geo charts are a surprisingly powerful reporting tool built right into Google Sheets. They transform static location data into a dynamic visual story, making it easy to spot trends, compare regions, and present your findings in a way that tables and numbers alone simply cannot. With a bit of practice, you’ll be creating insightful maps in minutes.

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