How to create map of Canada with MapFast?

This article is a step-by-step guide on how to create your own Canada map from Excel/CSV data. Let’s dive in!

The goal is to create a map of Canada with a population dataset.

Scatter map of Canada
A scatter map of Canada
Choropleth map of Canada
A choropleth map of Canada

We will see two types of maps:

Here, we will create both so that you can see the difference between the two types of maps.

Step 1: Upload your data

Create an Excel file or CSV file with at least two columns:

You can name the columns as you want, it doesn't matter.

Here is an example, the population data for Canada (2025):

0_geo_name 1_year 2_value
Alberta 2025 5029346
British Columbia 2025 5697536
Manitoba 2025 1509702
New Brunswick 2025 869682
Newfoundland and Labrador 2025 549911
Northwest Territories 2025 45950
Nova Scotia 2025 1093245
Nunavut 2025 41830
Ontario 2025 16258260
Prince Edward Island 2025 182657
Quebec 2025 9058297
Saskatchewan 2025 1266959
Yukon 2025 48278
Source for this data: Statistics Canada, via citypopulation.de. You can also download it here directly.

Then, just open the MapFast app and drop your data in the upload section.

That's it! The app will automatically detect the boundary names and create a map of Canada with your data. Once finished, it should look like this:

A screenshot of the MapFast app once finished uploading the data
MapFast screenshot: upload done

Fill in your email and click on "See map".

💡 Under the hood, MapFast will detect which regions (or locations) are present in the file, and geocode them to get their coordinates. Once it's geocoded, MapFast will make guess the best color mapping, best map type and best title for your map.

Step 2: customize your map

Scatter map

By default, the app will create a scatter map of your data. Here is what it looks like for the population as the size (1) and color (2) of the markers, and a title (3):

Scatter map
MapFast screenshot: the scatter map created (Canadian population by Province and Territory)

The sidebar on the left enables you to customize the map:

Create your map of Canada

Choropleth map

The choropleth map is a map with colored regions. To create a choropleth map, it's three steps:

  1. Click on choropleth in the sidebar
  2. Select the administrative level you want to use: Regions, Counties, etc.
  3. Select a column for the value to display. This will set the colors of the regions.

Here is what it looks like for the population dataset:

Choropleth map
MapFast screenshot: the choropleth map created (Canadian population by Province and Territory)

If the match isn't perfect, open the table and edit the names of the regions until your data is aligned with the map.

Create your map of Canada

Step 3: Download or share the map

Once your map is ready, you have two options:

  1. Download the map as an image (PNG)
  2. Share the map to other people (interactive page).
MapFast screenshot: download and share options
MapFast screenshot: download and share options

The two options are available in top-right corner of the app.

It's also possible to embed the map on your website : to do so, open the sharable link and copy the HTML embed code.

Conclusion

That's it! You have created a map of Canada with your own Excel/CSV file. Effortlessly! 😉

You can now download the map as an image or share it / embed it on your website.

Happy mapping! ⭐

Ready to create beautiful maps?