Visio Guy 
Map of Europe
Posted by Visio Guy on September 3rd, 2006 5009 views
Every once in a while, folks ask about map shapes in Visio. Does Visio have countries and continents? Yes? Well, where on earth (pun intended) are they?
Visio has had map shapes for a long time, but it has become increasingly difficult to find them. First, some of the shapes got moved into the shape database. That means they are no longer in a stencil, but must be found by running a Shape Search. And we all know that search can be less than perfect at times.
Second, the politicians and lawyers got involved. It seems that a few countries are having border disputes. And if poor Microsoft tries to sell anything in these countries that depicts borders not to their liking, they might end up getting sued. Hey, we just want to get our diagrams done!
So I've found an old .vsd of Europe that I made before these "issues" arose. I've added a few features that you might find useful or interesting:
- Nicer colors and formatting
- Text centered more appropriately on country shape
- Text field on each shape that shows the name (of the master)
- Put a silly grid on a background layer to give it that special "map feeling"
(Layer name = Grid, which is locked. Go to View > Layer Properties... to unlock) - Removed some of the graphically unappealing portions of Norway and Russia.
Perhaps this will allow some of you to find the shapes that you want more easily.
To help the folks out in search land, this drawing contains Visio shapes of the following countries:
EN: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom
DE: Albanien, Österreich, Belgien, Bosnien und Herzegovina, Bulgarien, Weißrußland, Kroatien, Zypern, Tschechische Republik, Dänemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Deutschland, Griechenland, Island, Irland, Italien, Ungarn, Lettland, Litauen, Luxemburg, Ehem. jugoslaw. Rep. Mazedonien, Moldawien, Niederlande, Norwegen, Polen, Rumänien, Serbien, Rußland, Slowakische Rep., Slovenien, Spanien, Schweden, Schweiz, Türkei, Großbritannien
October 13th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Just found this link that gives more details about the history of map shapes in Visio, and some tips on how to search for them.
1:15 AM
October 13th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Way kewl post, Chris. Glad you launched the blog - Good idea
- Barb
October 13th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Thank you very much. I had some trouble getting Visio to line the shapes up autoamtically when I tried to create my own, and the country names, etc… are a great addition. This has saved me a lot of work.
DJG
October 23rd, 2006 at 9:00 pm
[…] Ola Visio Amigos! Following on the heels of the Map of Europe and the Map of North America, this week brings us a map of South & Central America, that you can download here. Some of the islands of the Carribean are also included. […]
October 31st, 2006 at 11:00 pm
[…] Nia hao ma and g’day folks! This week, we’ve got a Map of Asia & Australia for you to download. This complements the Map of North America, Map of Europe, and Map of Central & South America that we’ve offered you earlier. […]
February 19th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Is it public domain and free to use?
I would love to upload it to my site, so everyone in Denmark can benefit from it.
KortX - Kort og Landkort
February 19th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Hi KortX,
You can link to this site from yours, then anyone can download the maps!
- Chris
March 21st, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Good day,
What version of Visio is the map in. I cant open it due to the verison
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 am
Hi Kyle,
They’re all in Visio 2003 format. Sorry that you’ve had problems.
- Chris
April 29th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Thank you for this great work.
I’ve got a problem to make a good diagram for explaining system arch. for European countries but I could make it much nicer using this.
Again, thanks.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:21 pm
[…] few weeks ago, I uploaded the map of Europe Visio diagram. This file provided convenient access to all the shapes of Europe, all neatly […]