Preview
Geo Charts
10:50A geographic chart is a map where data can be plotted at different locations across the world. It represents the data as a map to give a more accurate insight into the location of the data.
Example Geo Charts
Per Capita GDP - South America Geo Chart
The per capita GDP in Brazil is along the median of the South American countries. Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay have the highest per capita GDP.
Total GDP - South America Geo Chart
Brazil has the largest economy in South America, which correlates with its population also being the largest.
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A geographic chart is a map where data
can be plotted at different locations
0:00
around the world.
0:05
It represents the data as a map to give
a more accurate insight into the locations
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of the data.
0:12
Google Sheets provides
us with many options for
0:14
creating visualizations from spreadsheets.
0:17
If you're working with geographic data,
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you may be interested in creating a
geographic chart, or geo chart for short.
0:23
Keep in mind that this data
chart is interactive and
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there are limitations to how much
customization options can be tweaked,
0:32
compared to the other types of charts.
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Let's learn more about Brazil and
the other South American countries.
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Brazil has the largest population,
and earlier we found out
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that there's a moderate correlation
between population and total GDP.
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But what about the per capita GDP?
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Brazil has the largest economy,
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does that mean it also has
the largest per capita GDP?
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Looking at our data, the answer is no.
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What we can do is we can plot out all of
our data points on a map to gain insights
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about all the different
countries in South America.
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For this analysis,
we'll make two geo charts.
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First, I'll map out the GDP per capita for
each country in South America.
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I'll select column A for country.
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And while holding down command or
control, column D for GDP per capita.
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When I insert my chart,
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I'm going to choose geo chart from
the chart type dropdown menu.
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Now I have a map of the whole world,
let's go over to the Customize tab.
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There are only two options for
customizing the chart.
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And neither of these options allow
us to add a title to the chart.
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Oh no, you know how much I love doing that!
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So, here's how we're
gonna work around that.
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Let's move the chart to its own sheet and
then rename the sheet.
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We'll call this Per Capita GDP -
South America,
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and this is a geo chart.
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Now, we can continue
customizing the chart.
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Right now we have a view
of the whole world, but
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we only really want to
look at South America.
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We'll go to edit the chart.
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In the Customize tab,
open the Geo section.
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Now, from the region drop down,
select South America.
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You can also take a moment here to
explore all of the different regions that
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are available.
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If you have some data that includes
location, consider doing an exploratory
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data analysis with the geo chart for
that region.
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So now, our geo chart shows the per capita
GDP of all the South American countries.
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But there's one more customization
that I would suggest.
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Let's change the max
color from green to blue,
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cornflower blue to help out our friends
with red-green color blindness.
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And for now,
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that's all the customization we can get to
in this current version of Google Sheets.
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Let's close the chart editor and
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make some observations based on
our geographic visualizations.
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The legend at the bottom of this chart
shows the values of countries' per
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capita GDPs.
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If I hover over an individual country,
a label will pop up and
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there will be an indicator
alongside the legend for that area.
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Let's make another geo chart,
this time for total GDP.
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I'll click back to the South America data
set from the bottom navigation bar and
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deselect my columns.
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And this time I'll select column A and
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column C while holding down Ctrl or
Command.
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Insert Chart. In the chart editor,
Chart Type. Geo Chart.
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Now, let's move our new chart
to its own sheet and rename it
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Total GDP - South America Geo Chart. Now,
let's customize the map.
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Change the region to South America
by clicking edit chart,
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Customize, Geo, Region, South America.
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And remember, for our friends with red-
green color blindness we'll change the max
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green color to cornflower blue.
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Awesome, so
now we have two different geo charts.
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And looking between these two maps,
I can see a story.
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Even though Brazil has
the largest economy,
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which correlates with it
having the largest population.
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When we look at the per capita economy,
the distribution of wealth is
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actually slightly below the median for
all of South America.
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The three countries in the blue for
per capita
6:04
GDP Are Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
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Remember that there are some limitations
to the customizations of these geo charts,
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such as lack of titles and labels.
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Additionally, a chart shouldn't have to
rely on colors alone in order to tell
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a story.
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For instance,
what if these map charts were printed out?
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Since there are no titles or static
labels, it would be hard to understand,
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especially since this geo chart is meant
to be interactively viewed on a screen.
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And if they're printed out in black and
white, as many things are,
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it would be even more
difficult to understand.
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And notice how since these geo charts
are on their own sheets, there is not
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an option to add alternative text in
the same way that we have been doing for
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other charts.
7:01
We can work around that by adding a new
sheet dedicated as describing our
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visualizations.
7:06
Create a new worksheet and
name it geo chart alternative text.
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In the bottom left corner,
click on the plus sign.
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And I'll rename this from Sheet5 to
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Geo Chart Alternative Text. In row 1,
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we'll create the headers.
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First, Chart Title.
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And second, Description.
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This worksheet here will
describe our two geo charts.
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Let's copy over the Geo Chart titles.
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First, I'll copy the Per Capita GDP by
clicking the option to Rename and copying.
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I'll go back to my new worksheet and
paste in the title.
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And then I'll do the same for total GDP.
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Nice.
8:25
I can resize column A by double-clicking
on the blue line between A and B.
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For our descriptions,
we can say that the per
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capita GDP In Brazil is
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along the median of
the South American countries.
8:47
Chile, Argentina, And
8:57
Uruguay have the highest per capita GDP.
9:03
And for total GDP we can say
that Brazil has the largest
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economy In South America,
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which correlates with its
population also being the largest.
9:29
Now, this alternative text worksheet
will address the shortcomings
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of this graph type that I've outlined
earlier as far as readability.
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Nice.
Geo charts can be useful in
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an exploratory data analysis to
quickly gain insight into location
9:54
based data if your regions
are included in the customize geo tab.
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The included regions are a strong
limitation to be aware of.
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If you try to plot the other
datasets in this workshop,
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you'll find that these small regions,
the Caribbean and Central America,
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are not easy to see on any region option.
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Hopefully this will change in the future.
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But if your data is compatible
with what is available,
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I encourage you to try it out.
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We're at the end of our workshop.
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Congratulations, you've completed data
visualization with Google Sheets.
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I hope you liked it and
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find it useful for expanding your
repertoire of data storytelling.
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If you have any questions,
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feel free to ask them in
the Treehouse community forums.
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I'm AJ and I'll catch you next time.
10:47