Plot excel records on Bing Map

Question

Hi,

We have approximately 10,000 records in an Excel file, and we want to plot them on Bing Maps. The file contains only address information; latitude and longitude data is not available.

Is it possible to plot all records on the map using just the address information, without latitude/longitude?

If latitude/longitude is mandatory for plotting, we will need to fetch these coordinates using Bing Maps. However, given the large number of records, this process could be time-consuming. Could you suggest a faster and more efficient way to fetch latitude and longitude from addresses?

Thanks!

Answer 1

If this is just for local viewing on the desktop version of Excel, there are a couple of maps built into Excel which use Bing Maps.

• Filled map - This is still there, but appears to require columns for state, country... and doesn't display individual addresses (latitude/longitude not required). Look under Insert -> Maps
• 3D Map (also known as Power Map) - Displays location information on an interactive map. Initially it is a 3D globe by there are buttons to switch it to a flat map. Latitude/Longitude is not required. This feature appears to have been removed from the ribbon (could just be me), but if you type "3D map" in the search bar of Excel it loads it. To get this to work, first select all your data and format it as a table. With the table selected, search for "3D Maps" and select the option that looks correct (most likely the first option). This will open another window with a map that will identify the location column automatically (assuming your column name is something like "Address", or if you have multiple columns with address information). You will also have the option to select other columns to add height and categorization to the markers displayed on the map. With a bit of practice you can do more advanced things like add multiple data layers, animate between them, and export as a video. Here are some links:
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/visualize-your-data-in-3d-maps-ce6b1d5c-4602-4dae-b487-91ec0268e75d
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/switch-between-stacked-and-clustered-columns-in-a-3d-maps-chart-17141e34-96ce-4ded-ac07-e33899bf320e
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/show-a-heat-map-in-3d-maps-be0bad76-3f04-4e9b-8a53-1801fc2b17d9
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-region-chart-in-3d-maps-ce15c2c9-e9b1-47ab-ae53-37489cb67726

If you instead want to display the data on an interactive map online you would then either need to find a tool such as Power BI or a 3rd party site that does this or create your own. Power BI has lots of map options and it's pretty easy to upload an Excel file and view it. It also automatically geocodes address information, so no latitude/longitude information needed. Here is some documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-maps/power-bi-visual-get-started (Note that Azure Maps is replacing Bing Maps at Microsoft for enterprise scenarios, and Bing Maps will be retiring from that space and will only be focused on the consumer site bing.com/maps. Note that both platforms use nearly the same data).