Tutorial:Layout rules for maps

Highlights

This tutorial is part of the guidelines Layout rules for tables, graphs and maps, using the Excel add-in.

It describes the layout rules for Eurostat maps produced with the IMAGE tool and used in Statistics Explained and some publications such as 'Statistical working papers' and 'Manuals and guidelines'.

Please note that all maps should be sent to the GISCO team for opinion/approval before inserting into the Statistics Explained article, using the following Teams group: GRP-ESTAT GISCO MAP CHECKING

Layout of maps

Statistical maps are ideal for presenting large sets of data in a user-friendly way. The most common type is a thematic map where the data is sorted into a number of statistical classes represented by colour shades on the map. Please note that this kind of map is most suitable for statistical indicators where the total numbers are divided with another indicator, like population or area (good examples: "Population density", "GDP per inhabitant" or "Employment rate"), the map should in principle not show total values, since it's considered to be misleading.

Creating a map

All maps published by Eurostat must be approved by the GISCO team in unit E4. This is the link to the IMAGE tool which is a web interface for producing a standard statistical map. Please use this tool whenever you want to produce a standard map. If you need to produce a more specialised map, please contact the GISCO team directly using this functional e-mail address: ESTAT GISCO MAPS.

Please note that all maps should be sent to the GISCO team for opinion/approval before inserting into the Statistics Explained article, using the following Teams group: GRP-ESTAT GISCO MAP CHECKING

Map template

All statistical maps use the standard Eurostat map template, with all parts of the European Union territory represented and with the Eurostat logo in the lower right corner of the map. Territory cannot be excluded from the map even if there is no data to show – not having data is also an important piece of information to our users. The category "Data not available" will be represented by dark grey colour on the map if the country or region is a part of EU, EFTA or candidate countries and with light grey if the territory is outside this coverage. This means that all the NUTS codes for the selected NUTS level and for EU and the EFTA and candidate countries must be included in the dataset. If data is not available, then the value in the third column of the worksheet in Excel should be a colon ":", please avoid having empty cells in the data being used to construct the map.

Map definitions in Excel

The map is defined by providing standardised Excel files. You can find some example files under Help section of the IMAGE tool. Each map should only have one footnote and it is called a "Note:" and placed on the bottom of the map, just above the source code information.

Please note that the spelling of the region names cannot be changed or abbreviated, use the region names as mentioned in the latest version of the NUTS Regulation and add the NUTS code in brackets, for more information see: the NUTS dedicated section on the Eurostat website.

Statistical classes and colouring of the maps

You can either specify the statistical classes for your map yourself or ask the cartographer to help you, but you will need to choose in the map tool how many classes the map should have (normally 3-6 classes).

The statistical maps are coloured according to the Eurostat style guide. Suitable colour schemes are available in the IMAGE tool.

Embedding interactive maps in Statistics Explained articles

When you create a map in the IMAGE tool, you can download it as an interactive html map and embed this into the SE article. Create the map as described above, then follow the next steps.

Rules for naming the interactive maps (html files) According to Europa domain and subdomain rules, websites owned by DGs and executive agencies must be hosted on the europa.eu domain. As part of the Europa.eu domain, the websites’ URLs must follow these rules:

URLs must always be lower case (to avoid incompatibility between Unix and Windows, respectively case-sensitive and case-insensitive)
URLs must always be in English, even when they contain a page in another language (see also Language indicator)
multiple words contained in a URL must be separated by a dash/hyphen (-), though the underscore (_) is also accepted
URLs must not contain chained multiple words (e. g. europeancommission is wrong, european-commission is correct)
URLs must not contain acronyms, as they are not understood by a broader audience. Exceptions can only be granted for existing URLs already approved in the past.

Once you have downloaded and correctly named the map, you can ask the SE team to upload the map for you. You will receive a link to add to your article.