Add geographical data

DataPicta supports geographical data in GeoJSON format. You can add geographical data by clicking on 'Add Data' in the data panel. If this is your first time adding data the add data dialog will open, in this dialog you see a button to switch to the 'Add geographical data' dialog. Otherwise you need to click on 'Add geographical data' in the intermediate dialog.

Although you can upload any GeoJSON file, DataPicta already has thousands of geographical datasets built in. This includes the world, continents, countries and many regions. If you need a smaller set of geographical data, like a city, you probably need to upload your own GeoJSON file. The geographical data in DataPicta is sourced from Natural Earth (https://www.naturalearthdata.com/), therefore the filtering options in the add geographical data dialog are based on the Natural Earth dataset. Some presets are available for quick access, these are the world, continents, countries, subregions, United Nations and the World Bank. The presets set the filters for accuracy, group, topic and minimal-objects.

We recommend setting the preferred preset and then use the search field to find the geographical dataset you need. All sets should be searched by their english name. Search results are shown by showing the map, the name, the size in number of objects, and the size in bytes. When in doubt we recommend choosing the smaller size in bytes, as this will load faster in your chart. The number of objects is more relevant when you need to style individual objects in your chart, for example when you want to color states/provinces based on data values (a.k.a. a choropleth).

Copy or download data

In the sidebar the data panel is automatically opened when you add new geographical data. Here you can copy the data to clipboard or download it as a CSV file. Use the icon buttons in the top-right corner for this.

Edit the geographical data

If you need to edit the geographical data you can do this by clicking on the 'world' icon. This will open geojson.io with the geographical data preloaded. Here you can edit the geographical data, like adding or removing objects, changing shapes, or simplifying the data. After editing you can save the GeoJSON file and upload it in DataPicta.

Delete geographical objects

If you need to delete geographical objects from the geographical data you can do this by clicking on the 'trash' icon next to each object. This may be useful when you need a country without certain overseas islands, like France without French Guiana. Actually, this is how we created the 'world map' without Antarctica.

Merge geographical data

If you need to merge multiple geographical objects into a single geographical dataset you can do this by simply adding multiple geographical datasets. DataPicta will automatically merge them into a single geographical dataset that you can use in your chart. For instance, you can load 'The Netherlands', 'Belgium' and 'Luxembourg' to create a single 'Benelux' geographical dataset.

Search geographical objects

When you have added geographical data with lots of objects, like the world-map with over 175 objects (countries), you may want to quickly find a specific object. You can do this by using the search field at the top of the geographical data panel. Just type in part of the name of the object you are looking for, and the list will be filtered to show only matching objects.

Canvas

Besides the 'Geographic data' panel there is also a new Canvas panel named 'Map', here you can set the 'boundaries', 'map distortion' and 'interactivity' of the map. Please refer to the Canvas documentation for more information on how to use these settings.