How to visualize round trips on a Route Map in Excel, including an indication of the quantities transported between the cities
The recent post series “Geographical Flow Maps in Excel” (part 1, part 2, part 3) described how to visualize flows from one selected city to several target locations, showing the connections between origin and targets and indicating the flow quantity by the thickness of the lines.
My highly esteemed colleague Joachim Schirra, outstanding SAP and Business Intelligence expert, read the articles and came up with the following question in a comment on LinkedIn:
“Would it be possible to show a flow with branches, junctions and return flows, too?”
Although this is a great idea, it sounds easier than it is. Truth be told, I do not have a solution. At least not yet.
However, Joachim’s comment made me think. What can easily be achieved is the visualization of a weighted Route Map (i.e. a round trip, see image above).
Today’s post describes how to change and enhance the Geographical Flow Map approach to get to such a Route Map. As always, the post includes the Excel workbook for free download.