How to create map of Switzerland with MapFast?

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

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

Scatter map of Switzerland
A scatter map of Switzerland
Choropleth map of Switzerland
A choropleth map of Switzerland

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 Switzerland (2025):

0_geo_name 1_year 2_value
Aargau 2025 735808
Appenzell Ausserrhoden 2025 56705
Appenzell Innerrhoden 2025 16733
Basel-Landschaft 2025 301323
Basel-Stadt 2025 201384
Bern 2025 1071216
Fribourg 2025 346674
Genève 2025 531102
Glarus 2025 42371
Graubünden 2025 206138
Jura 2025 74840
Luzern 2025 437944
Neuchâtel 2025 179518
Nidwalden 2025 45345
Obwalden 2025 39662
Schaffhausen 2025 88667
Schwyz 2025 168931
Solothurn 2025 289792
St. Gallen 2025 540036
Thurgau 2025 299509
Ticino 2025 358903
Uri 2025 38275
Valais 2025 371288
Vaud 2025 855106
Zug 2025 133739
Zürich 2025 1620020
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 Switzerland 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 (Swiss population by Canton)

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

Create your map of Switzerland

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 (Swiss population by Canton)

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 Switzerland

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 Switzerland 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?