This is an archive related to a previous version of ArcGIS Maps for Office. If you need the current version go to http://doc.arcgis.com/en/maps-for-office/.
A map provides a geographic view of data and allows you to explore and interact with that data. With ArcGIS Maps for Office, data that you've stored in an Excel spreadsheet can be displayed on a map. Additionally, you can combine your data with data from ArcGIS Online on a single map, allowing you to visually analyze the information and share it with others.
A map is a spatial document composed of one or more layers. A layer is the way in which ArcGIS Maps for Office visually represents geographic datasets. A layer is similar to a legend item on a paper map. For example, on a road map, roads, national parks, political boundaries, and rivers might be considered different layers. When you add data from Excel to a map, ArcGIS Maps for Office creates a layer and displays it in the Contents pane. Once the layer is created, you can configure how it's styled, set its transparency, enable clustering or heat maps, turn on pop-ups, and so on.
You can add multiple maps to an Excel spreadsheet. Each map floats in its own window, making it easy to move the map to a second monitor, or move it out of the way entirely when you don't need to see it.
When you're creating a map, it's easy to get carried away and try to add a very large amount of data to the map. It's important to keep in mind that plotting too many individual features on a map can lead to viewer confusion and frustration, and doesn't provide a clear picture of your business data. In addition to creating a map that's difficult to interpret, trying to add a large number of rows to a map negatively impacts the performance of ArcGIS Maps for Office. If your data contains a very large number of features, you can try adding it to the map in subsets; for example, if you have 100,000 features, create two separate layers containing 50,000 points each.
For this reason, ArcGIS Maps for Office restricts the number of features you can add to a map without impacting performance. Data import limits per layer are as follows:
When you begin the Add Data workflow, ArcGIS Maps for Office scans your spreadsheet and attempts to find location-based information. Your data must contain at least one location-based attribute, such as address data or longitude and latitude values. ArcGIS Maps for Office analyzes the data in your spreadsheet and suggests the best ways to represent it on a map, offering a selection of styles for you to choose from. You can quickly add a map to your spreadsheet by choosing one of the suggested maps styles.
You can add up to five maps to an Excel workbook.
To add a map to your Excel spreadsheet, do the following:
See Sign in to ArcGIS for more information.
The Add data from my spreadsheet window opens, displaying a carousel loaded with options specific to your data.
If your workbook contains multiple spreadsheets, tables, or named ranges, you must specify which data to use to create the map.
The data from your spreadsheet is added as a layer to the map.
To add a map by specifying data in your spreadsheet, do the following:
If your spreadsheet contains a table that includes location information, the Add data from my spreadsheet window opens, displaying a carousel loaded with options specific to your data, as described above.
If your spreadsheet contains multiple tables, named ranges, or if ArcGIS Maps for Office cannot find location-based information, the Add Map workflow window opens.
For example, match the columns in your data that contain the Longitude (X) and Latitude (Y) information.
ArcGIS Maps for Office creates a map with the default basemap and the specified data.
You can add new layers to the map at any time; see Add layers from Excel for more information.
To add a blank map to your spreadsheet, do the following:
If your spreadsheet contains a table that includes location information, the Add data from my spreadsheet window opens, displaying a carousel loaded with options specific to your data, as described above.
If your spreadsheet contains multiple tables, named ranges, or if ArcGIS Maps for Office cannot find location-based information, the Add Map workflow window opens.
ArcGIS Maps for Office creates a map with the default basemap and no layers.
You can add layers to the map at any time; see Add layers from Excel for more information.