How to Fix Unrecognized UK Locations in Excel Maps
Question details
The user needs to resolve an issue where Excel Maps fails to plot specific UK districts or locations due to unrecognized geographic data.
- Product
- Microsoft Excel
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Creating a map chart using UK district or county data.
- Observed behavior
- Excel Maps leaves certain areas blank or returns an error because it cannot recognize the ambiguous or incomplete location name.
Ensure your Excel version supports Map Charts (Excel 2019, Excel 2021, or Microsoft 365) and that you have an active internet connection, as Bing Maps requires internet access to resolve geographic data.
Use Fully Qualified Locations with Geographic Hierarchy
Clarify ambiguous locations by adding supplementary columns for country, region, and county to build a complete geographic hierarchy.
When Excel Maps encounters a location name that exists in multiple countries or regions, it may fail to plot the data. By providing a clear geographic hierarchy, you help the underlying Bing Maps engine pinpoint the exact UK district.
Insert new columns adjacent to your location data to define the broader geographic hierarchy. Label these new columns as 'Country', 'Region', and 'County'.
Fill in the exact geographic details for your unrecognized area. For example, for St Helens, type 'United Kingdom' under Country, 'England' under Region, and 'Merseyside' under County.
Highlight the entire expanded dataset including the new geographic columns and your values. Navigate to the 'Insert' tab, select 'Maps', and click 'Filled Map' to refresh and correctly plot the UK locations.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Excel Map fail to plot certain UK districts or towns?
Excel Maps uses Bing Maps to geocode locations. If a district name is ambiguous or shared with another city globally (like St Helens), Bing may not recognize it correctly without a complete geographic hierarchy.
How can I automatically pull in geographic hierarchy data in Excel?
Select your location text, go to the Data tab, and click 'Geography' in the Data Types section. This automatically links your text to an online database, allowing you to extract connected data like County or Country seamlessly.
Is it better to use postcodes instead of city names for mapping in Excel?
Yes, using full UK postcodes usually yields much more accurate mapping results than text-based city or district names, because postcodes provide precise geographic coordinates to the mapping service.
