Excel question - Putting data on a U.S. Map

[imported_KuJaX]

In column A I have a list of the 50 U.S. States. In column B I have data that correlates to the appropriate state to its left in column A.

What I want to do is see a visual representation of the data according to its state. For example, there will be a map of the United States and each state is colored brighter according to how high the number is in column B. So if California was 50,000 and Texas was 20,000 - then California would be a brighter color than Texas on the map because it is a higher number.

I can see this type of use done for millions of reasons, yet doing some Googling I can't seem to find an answer. Suggestions? Using Excel 2007 or Excel 2003 (or maybe another application has this capability?)


Edit:

Here is EXACTLY what I want to do, but it talks about Excel 2000.

link

 

[mayest]

You might want to Google for Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Excel used to, long ago, have a nice mapping application. I'm not sure why they dumped it, but there has to be something out there that works with Excel.

 

[timswim78]

What you want to create are called thematic Maps. People who create them often have GIS software such as ArcMap, or MapInfo. There is some free stuff available from the Census Bureau and other places, but I have not used it. http://www.census.gov/ipc/imps/mapview/impsmap.html

 

[MrChad]

You'll need Microsoft MapPoint.

About using mapping programs in Excel 2002 and later
Create a map with MapPoint and Excel

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: MrChad
You'll need Microsoft MapPoint.

About using mapping programs in Excel 2002 and later
Create a map with MapPoint and Excel

Bingo. Map Point is cheap and dead easy for simple tasks like this. Full blown GIS apps are total overkill.

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Does Google have some type of service that is integrated into their spreadsheets? How about openoffice?