Easy Map Excel Tool USER GUIDE

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1 Easy Map Excel Tool USER GUIDE Overview Easy Map tool provides basic maps showing customized data, by Ontario health unit geographies. This tool will come in handy especially when there is no dedicated GIS staff member within your organization. It offers a quick way of generating maps for data visualization purposes. The maps generated using this tool can easily be inserted as figures within reports or other documents. Easy Map is a macro-enabled Excel tool. Users are therefore advised to make sure that the Macro within Excel has been enabled before attempting to modify the map. Content This user guide describes the elements and features of the Easy Map tool as well as provides information on how to create basic maps for the purpose of visualizing health unit data. Worksheets/Tabs There are 3 tabs in the workbook: Profile, Data, and Map Profile: This is a demo worksheet containing a fictitious dataset aggregated by health unit geography. The information here can be copied and pasted in Column A of the Data worksheet to give the user an idea on how to create maps using this tool. Data: This is the worksheet used to generate the map. It contains two columns: one for the health unit name and another for the variable of choice that will be shown on the map organized into health units. Map: This is the worksheet that contains the map and where all cartographic elements (colors, labels, title, data classes, etc.) are modified. Adding your own data The information to be shown on the map are added in the Data worksheet. General steps: 1. Decide what data you would like to show in the map. 2. Gather and assemble your data into health unit groupings in a separate excel file. 3. Arrange the health unit in the same order as what is found in Column A of the Data worksheet. Make sure that the data corresponding to each health unit is also arranged in the same manner. Page 1 of 5

2 4. Copy the corresponding data (not the health unit names) from the separate excel file and paste the data in Column B of the Data worksheet (as seen below). The data in Column B will be used for the map classes in the steps for creating the map. Notes: The health unit names in the first column (Column A) of the worksheet should not be changed and no extra columns should be moved into the page. Ensure that all entries in Column B (Rows B3B38, below the header row) contain only numeric data (no string characters). If any string characters are entered, errors in the macro will occur. Cells in Column B (Rows B3B38, below the header row) with blank/empty values will be treated as 0 values. If you wish to put a category for cells with no data, code the cell as a clear outlier (a very high value; in some cases, labeled as a numeric starting with 9), classify the data appropriately as discussed in the section below, and ensure the map colors and legend have been updated to reflect the entries with no data. Page 2 of 5

3 Do not paste additional fields in the Data worksheet as it may affect the macro used to generate the map Modifying the look of the map Modifying the look of the map in this tool (out of the box) is primarily done within the Map worksheet and is limited to changing the map class cutoffs, modifying the colors of the classes, and changing the title of the map. The instructions to change these map elements are discussed below. Changing the map colors To change the map class colors, simply right-click the color you wish to change in the legend (in Column R) and change the Fill color to your color of choice. Modifying the data class cutoff values The data class cutoff values determine which group and consequently which color each health unit is visualized as. Before modifying the cut off values, it is best to familiarize yourself with the data that you are trying to visualize and to know the highest and lowest values in the Data worksheet. By default, there are 5 classes for the health unit colors. It is recommended not to attempt to modify the number of classes. Change the highlighted values in Column V as you see fit based on the data from the Data worksheet and the purpose and the map. You may have specific cutoffs that you would like your data mapped by. The yellow highlighted values in Column V determine the lower bound of each class used for mapping. Each class will therefore contain all the health units which have a value (from the Data worksheet) starting at the value of the highlighted cell to just under the next higher class lower bound. This means that all health units that have a value within this range will fit into that class. Looking at the legend and class cutoff image below will help solidify this concept. That being said, you will next need to modify the legend text to reflect the changes made to the class ranges, as described in the next section. Note: When data is in percentage format, appropriate decimal values should be used to display correctly in the map. Page 3 of 5

4 Modifying the legend To change the legend labels, simply click on the text value and make the changes as required. Note: changing only the legend labels will not shift the health units into new classes. This must be done in the Modifying the data class cutoff values section. Changing the map title To change the title of the map to reflect the data being visualized, simply click on the title and enter the new text, similar to changing any other cell in an Excel worksheet. Refreshing the map The purpose of refreshing the map is for the built-in macro application to run through and modify the colors and classes of the map to reflect the changes made in the previous steps. For this to happen, simply press the Redraw Map button, shown below. After the process is complete, the changes you made should have been applied to your Map. Check your work to ensure that the health units have the appropriate color and are included in the appropriate boundaries of the thematic ranges on the Map worksheet. Page 4 of 5

5 Printing/Exporting the Map Following the standard printing process for Microsoft Excel files will, by default, produce the updated map, scaled to fit on a single page. If the map does not fit on a single page, or other size preferences are desired, or if another format such as PDF is preferred, adjust the appropriate scaling and output format options from the print dialog box in Excel. Disclaimer Public Health Ontario does not guarantee that the tool will be error free. Please double-check your data and ensure that each health unit falls into the proper class (and color) before publishing the map in any form. Credits Initial programming and concept by Dr. George Pasut, PHO Tool modification and user guide by Steven Johnson, PHO Contact Us For any questions/comments relating to this tool, please contact Analytic Analytics@oahpp.ca Page 5 of 5