Geographic Map Shapes for Microsoft Visio

Create maps using this set of shapes depicting regions of the world. Use Visio to arrange the shapes in their correct geographic locations.

Supported Operating Systems

Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows XP

To use these stencils, you must have Microsoft Visio 2003 (Standard or Professional) or a later version.

To install this download:

1. Download the .zip file. The Maps_U.zip file contains shapes designed for U.S. measurement units. The shapes in the Maps_M.zip file are in metric units.
2. Extract the stencil files (*.vss) from the .zip file to a folder on your computer.

To access these shapes from Visio:

1. Copy the stencil files to the "My Shapes" folder in your "Documents" or "My Documents" folder, which will be located on a path that looks similar to this:

C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\My Documents\My Shapes

or:
C:\Users\yourname\Documents\My Shapes

You can place them in a folder inside of the My Shapes folder if desired.


2. In Visio 2003 or 2007, with a drawing open, go to the File menu, point to Shapes, and then point to My Shapes. In Visio 2010, click on More Shapes in the Shapes window, and then point to My Shapes. The stencils will be listed in the My Shapes menu.

After you drag the shapes you want to use onto the drawing page, you can arrange them to form a region as follows:

1. Press SHIFT and then click to select each of the shapes.
2. Right-click one of them, and then click Arrange To Page.

Visio will automatically place corresponding shapes together. If you want the map shapes to fill the entire drawing page, select the Size shapes to fill the drawing page check box.

To add more shapes to a region:

1. Drag the additional shapes onto the drawing page.
2. Press SHIFT and then click to select each of the new shapes.
3. Right-click one of them, and then click Arrange To Shape.
4. On the drawing page, click a shape in the region that you want to align the new shapes to, and then in the Arrange To Shape dialog box, click OK.