Customize a region

In DataPicta, you can visualize data on a wide range of predefined geographic regions, such as continents, countries, states, and provinces. However, there may be instances where you want to create your own custom geographic region or modify an existing one to better suit your data visualization needs. In this guide, we will walk through the process of adding the IJsselmeer lake to the Netherlands region.

Start with the Netherlands

1. Open the DataPicta app by going to app.datapicta.com (this will open a separate browser tab).
2. If you have used DataPicta before, click on New blank chart in the menu in the top right corner.
3. Click on the plus icon (+) next to Data.
4. In the Add data dialog, click Use geographic data.
5. Choose Countries as the preset.
6. Search for Netherlands in the list of countries and select it.

The Netherlands is a country in Western Europe, but it also has several overseas territories in the Caribbean. DataPicta includes these territories when you select the Netherlands. Let's remove them to have a clean map of just the European Netherlands.

Remove overseas territories

1. In the geographic data table, click on the trash can icon next to Saba and delete this island from the data table.
2. Do the same for Sint Eustatius.
3. Above the data table, click the icon to switch to the chart view.

You should now have a chart showing data for the Netherlands only.

Add the IJsselmeer lake

If you are familiar with the geography of the Netherlands, you may notice that the IJsselmeer lake is missing from the map. The IJsselmeer is a large freshwater lake in the central Netherlands, and it is an important geographic feature of the country. Let's add it to our map.

1. With the geographic data table still open, click the earth icon to open the geojson.io website with the current geographic data.
2. On the geojson.io website, you can see the map of the Netherlands. We need to add the IJsselmeer lake to this map by 'shrinking' the land area of the lake to create a hole in the map.
3. Click on the pencil icon in the toolbar on the right side of the screen to enter edit mode.
4. Start by dragging the corners of the Noord Holland province to create some space for the lake.
5. Do the same for the Flevoland province.
6. Finally, adjust the corners of the Friesland province to create more space for the lake.
7. Once done, click the Save button in the top right corner of the screen.
8. Choose GeoJSON as the format and save the file to your computer.
9. Go back to the DataPicta app and click on New blank chart in the menu in the top right corner.
10. Click on the plus icon (+) next to Data.
11. In the Add data dialog, click Use geographic data.
12. Instead of choosing a preset, click Upload a GeoJSON file and upload the modified GeoJSON file you just saved.

After uploading, you will see the modified map with the IJsselmeer lake included.