How to create map of Chile with MapFast?

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

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

Scatter map of Chile
A scatter map of Chile
Choropleth map of Chile
A choropleth map of Chile

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 Chile (2023):

0_geo_name 1_year 2_value
Antofagasta 2023 714142
Arica y Parinacota 2023 259802
Atacama 2023 319048
Aysen del General Carlos Ibanez del Campo 2023 108306
Biobio 2023 1681430
Coquimbo 2023 869103
La Araucania 2023 1028201
Region del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 2023 1017701
Region de Los Lagos 2023 907429
Los Rios 2023 411205
Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena 2023 182217
Maule 2023 1162641
Nuble 2023 519437
Region Metropolitana de Santiago 2023 8367790
Tarapaca 2023 401588
Valparaiso 2023 2010849
Source for this data: Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE), 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 Chile 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 (Chilean population by Region)

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

Create your map of Chile

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 (Chilean population by Region)

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 Chile

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 Chile 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?