Getting Started

Quick start

Below are steps for getting started with TradeMapper. Please read these in conjuction with the rest of the information on this website.

1) On the Get Started tab, click “select data” and navigate to your .csv file.

2) A Custom CSV Importer box will appear. This interface allows you to map any data by telling TradeMapper which columns to look in for certain information (such as the year, or the location). Do not use any commas within your numerical data (e.g. 100,000 should be 100000).

3) Use the orange boxes in the Custom CSV Importer interface to assign each column a role:

TradeMapper will attempt to auto-assign roles to each of the columns but you should alyways check these are correct.

4) Click Done. The Custom CSV Importer box can be found on the ‘Filters’ tab and accessed at any time.

5) Add in any map layers you may have to give context to your trade data e.g. polygon of national parts. See FAQs for further guidance.

6) On the ‘Filters’ tab, select the correct column for ‘Quantity’. TradeMapper uses data from this column to draw the arrows, and the thickness of the arrow is based on this. The legend for the arrows and points will appear on the map automatically.

7) Use the filters on the ‘Filters’ tab if required. Changes to the map will be instant when you change something in the filters.

8) Use the ‘Hide’ tab to hide the control panel to allow more of the map to be shown.

9) Hover over arrows to get a pop up box which contains detailed information for that specific arrow. Pop up boxes can be dragged to a new location or closed by pressing the ‘X’ in the box. Hover over the symbols which relate to each country’s role in the hover box to reveal their meaning (e.g. black circle with cross means origin), or hover over the 2-letter country code in the hover box to see the full country name.

10) Zoom in using the wheel on your mouse if required.

11) Pan by clicking on the map with your mouse and dragging if required.

12) Click the Play button at the bottom of the screen to view an animation of the data over time. Click the Pause button or drag the slider to a specific year to investigate further. Click the Year Slide off to return to the filters.

13) Under the “Export” tab you can select different formats for exporting your map: .png, .svg and animated .gif.