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  2. Anaplan User Experience
  3. Build apps and pages in the User Experience
  4. Visualizations
  5. Charts
  6. Map chart
Charts

Map chart

Build a map card to display geographical data.

This is useful to help your audience visualize differences between markets, and highlight key values in each one.

A map chart of the world, with conditional formatting highlighting countries according to population density

A map chart provides a visualization of a geographic region, which contains data from the underlying source data. It also provides the ability to highlight subdivisions of that geographic region through conditional formatting. This is particularly useful to highlight differences between your markets or regions, and help devise strategies for them.

Maps are unique in Anaplan. They're built like a chart but used directly as a card. For page building purposes it's treated as a chart, and described here. For the use of map cards, please see Use a map card.

Anaplan provides these administrative subdivision lists:

  • World countries
  • Australian states and territories
  • Canadian provinces and territories
  • European countries
  • French départements (mainland France, only)
  • German länder
  • Japanese prefectures
  • New Zealand regions
  • Russian federal districts
  • UK counties and boroughs
  • USA states

Note: Map charts require that you carry out a number of steps, described below, before being able to fully use the feature.

To learn how to add a map chart to a board or worksheet, see Configure a chart card.

A map card on the left shows color-coded regions, according to data contained to the grid card on the right

Download map card regions and codes

Before you can build a map chart, you must obtain a list of regions/sub-regions to which you'll map your data, providing the basis for generating map charts.

In Anaplan, you can Download Map Chart Regions and Codes for use with map charts, as *.CSV files. This downloads a *.ZIP file that contains multiple *.CSV files to your browser's Downloads location. The *.CSV contains the standard subdivisions and their respective codes for the region you require.

Import map data

Once you've downloaded the map regions and codes, you need to create a list. This list corresponds to the regions that you want to base your map chart on. Then, import the *.CSV file that contains the relevant region codes.

  1. Once you've downloaded the map regions and codes, create appropriate lists and import the relevant *.CSV file.
  2. Create a module using your regions list.
  3. Pivot the grid to place regions on rows and line items on columns.

What can I use map charts for?

A common use of map charts is to comprehensively visualize and compare data across regions, which typically lead to strategic decisions.

Map charts have unique configuration options available in the right-hand configuration panel, under the Map tab. These options include:

  • The Data section contains a Region dropdown where you define which map to display.  This region must match the map in the source data
Map card configuration with the available regions displayed in the dropdown
  • The Data section contains a Show only matched items toggle. Toggle right to remove subdivisions that do not match your source data. This helps you single out relevant regions for which data exists, as the map will zoom in to matched regions or countries, depending on the data returned. This can be further enhanced by using a hierarchy filter that allows you to drill up and down a region hierarchy (see the Context tab description, below).
  • The Series section allows you to toggle conditional formatting, based on conditional formatting in the source data's first column. To accomplish this, go to View designer, select the custom view for the source data, and follow the process described in Conditional Formatting.
A custom view displays conditional formatting for German state-related data
  • The Labels section allows you to pick the color of your label text. Note that, depending on the color picked, your text will always be outlined by a black or white outline to improve readability. You can also toggle these data labels and tooltips for your chart.
The map labels section displays the font color picker, label and tooltip visibility toggles.

On the Context tab you can also toggle hierarchy filters. The hierarchy filter selector displays on the published chart, beside other context selectors of that card on your board or worksheet. Users can use this to drill down and focus on specific regions, for easier readability of displayed data. If used in combination with the Show only matched items toggle, it will display only regions for which data exists, zoomed to the subregion defined in your hierarchy filter. For more information on this topic, see Hierarchy filters.

For example, the map chart in the board below illustrates the use of conditional formatting with a hierarchy filter to display the Southeast Asia subregion, for which the Show only matched items toggle is on. Additional data on the board is provided by the bubble chart to its right, and a Gantt chart below. 

A board containing a map chart of South East Asia, a bubble chart to its right, and a Gantt chart below, highlighting the use of hierarchy filters

Use a map chart to answer:

  • How is a certain market progressing
  • Highlight key performance indicators for each individual region or subregion in your map
  • Easily identify underperforming or overperforming markets

To learn about other types of chart, see Chart types in detail on the Charts page.

Disclaimer

We update Anapedia content regularly to provide the most up-to-date instructions.