How to create map of Netherlands with MapFast?

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

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

Scatter map of Netherlands
A scatter map of Netherlands
Choropleth map of Netherlands
A choropleth map of Netherlands

We will see 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 Netherlands (2024):

0_geo_name 1_year 2_value
Groningen 2024 601347
Friesland (NL) 2024 661904
Drenthe 2024 504129
Overijssel 2024 1189033
Gelderland 2024 2149071
Flevoland 2024 450826
Noord-Holland 2024 2976487
Zeeland 2024 391634
Utrecht 2024 1400057
Zuid-Holland 2024 3840460
Noord-Brabant 2024 2644739
Limburg (NL) 2024 1133255
Source for this data: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/. 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 Netherlands with your data. Once finished, it should look like this:

A screenshot of the MapFast app once finished uploading the data

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

Step 2: 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

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

Create your map of Netherlands

Step 3: 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, Departments, 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

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 Netherlands

Conclusion

That's it! You have created a map of Netherlands 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! ⭐