HooMap Help Center

Welcome to HooMap. This guide explains how to turn a spreadsheet of locations into an interactive map, filter and explore it, and save your work. You can use most features right away — no account needed to get started.

Tips & Troubleshooting

No points on the map? Check that latitude and longitude are mapped under Column Mapping. The dropdowns suggest the most likely columns.
A file looks cut off? On the free plan only the first 500 rows of each file are shown. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited data.
Lost work after reload? Your data, comments, and snapshots live only in the current session. Pro users can save a project file to keep their work. Free users lose data when the tab is closed.
A layer looks greyed out? Some layers like Hexagon and Heatmap are only available in 2D mode. Switch back to 2D to use them. 3D globe mode is an experimental feature.

Overview

HooMap takes a file of geographic data (rows that include latitude and longitude) and plots it on an interactive map. From there you can filter, color, animate, measure, comment on, and export your data.

A typical workflow looks like this:

Upload a CSV or Excel file, or load one of the built-in sample datasets.
Map your columns so HooMap knows which columns hold location, date, and category.
Filter and explore your data with text, number, category, and date filters.
Visualize using different map layers, colors, and 2D or 3D views.
Analyze with the calendar, weather, and elevation tools.
Save or export your work so nothing is lost.

The panels and tools are reached from the toolbar at the top of the map:

Data Filter – upload files, map columns, and filter data.
Map Style – change the base map, layers, colors, and point size.
Data – open the data table.
Analytics – open the calendar, weather, and elevation charts.
Comments – view and manage comments and location notes.

To try HooMap without your own file, open the Data Filter panel and choose one of the sample datasets (a Japanese breeding-bird atlas or a global earthquake set).

Uploading Data

Open the Data Filter panel to add your data. You can:

Drag and drop one or more files onto the panel, or
Click the panel to browse for files.

Supported formats are CSV (.csv) and Excel (.xlsx, .xls). Your file should contain columns for latitude and longitude. Any other columns — names, dates, categories, measurements, image links — can be used for filtering, coloring, and labels.

On the free plan you can upload one file at a time. Pro users can upload up to 10 files simultaneously and switch between them.

Tips:

Column headers can be in any language. HooMap detects coordinate columns by looking at the actual values, not just the header name.
On the free plan, each file shows the first 500 rows. A notice appears when a file is larger than this. Upgrading to Pro removes the limit.
Your data is processed in your browser and is never stored on any server. Pro users can save project files locally. Free users lose data when the tab is closed.

Column Mapping

After a file loads, HooMap tries to detect the important columns automatically. You can review and change these under Column Mapping in the Data Filter panel.

Latitude / Longitude – the location of each point. If your file stores both in a single column (for example 35.6, 139.7), switch to the combined option with the "Lat/Long in one column?" link.
Date – choose a single date column, or switch to separate Year, Month, and Day columns. For a single date column you can pick the format (such as YYYY-MM-DD or DD-MM-YYYY).
Category – a column used to color and group points (for example species or event type).

Each dropdown lists the columns that best fit that field, ranked by how well their values match. If the map shows nothing, check that latitude and longitude are mapped correctly here.

Filtering Data

Filters let you narrow your data down to exactly what you want to see. As you adjust them, the map and the total/filtered counts update instantly.

Filters appear automatically for each column, based on the type of data:

Text columns show a list of values with checkboxes and live counts. Select the values you want, or use the search box to find specific ones. You can also add advanced conditions like contains, does not contain, starts with, and ends with.
Number columns show a range slider plus a histogram. You can drag the range, or add conditions such as greater than, less than, equals, between, and outside range.

Helpful controls:

Sort filter values by count or by name to find the most common entries quickly.
Search within a column's values when there are many options.
Enable / disable a single filter without losing its settings.
Deactivate all filters temporarily shows your full dataset while keeping your filter settings.
Reset all filters clears everything and starts fresh.
Show only rows with comments narrows the view to commented points.

The counts at the top of the panel always show how many rows are visible out of the total.

Filter Auto-play (Map Animation)

Each filter has playback controls. Press the play button and, depending on the selected range, the filter values change automatically and the data on the map animates in sync. You can watch how categories and other filter conditions shift over time without manual adjustment.

Cumulative mode – data accumulates over time.
Slide mode – the filter slides through the selected range.

You can speed playback up or down and turn looping on or off. Use the information icon above the Calendar Filter for a quick reminder of the playback modes.

Map Visualization

Open the Map Style panel to change how your data looks on the map.

Base map

Choose a base map style: Light, Dark, Satellite (Pro), or Terrain (Pro). You can also toggle individual base-map elements such as labels, country/state/city borders, water, vegetation, buildings, and roads, or switch to a plain white background.

Visualization layers

Turn one or more layers on and combine them. Each layer has its own settings (color, opacity, size, and more):

Scatter Plot – individual points.
Hexagon – groups points into hexagonal bins.
Heatmap – shows density with a color gradient.
Grid – groups points into square cells.
Choropleth – shades regions (countries or states) by their totals.
Polygon – outlines groups of points by category or ID.
Path – connects points in order by category or ID.
Line Trips – animates movement along paths.

You can reorder active layers so the most important one sits on top, and you can quickly toggle layers using the layer strip on the map.

Colors and size

Color points by a category column, with a palette you can change, reverse, or customize per value.
Scale point size by a numeric column.
Adjust point size, opacity, and borders.

2D and 3D

Use the globe button to switch between the flat 2D map and the 3D globe. The Satellite and Terrain map styles each have a 3D checkbox that enables terrain elevation rendering.

Satellite 3D (Pro) drapes satellite imagery over a 3D terrain mesh.
Terrain 3D (Pro) renders the topographic map with real elevation extrusion.

Some aggregation layers (like Hexagon and Heatmap) are only available in 2D.

Map controls (bottom-right of the map): zoom in/out, reset the map to face north, and a scale bar that shows real-world distance.

Viewing Point Details

Click any point on the map to open a popup with that point's details:

The mapped values for that point (date, category, size, elevation, and more).
A Location link that opens the spot in Google Maps.
Images, if your data includes image links — shown as a small gallery you can scroll through.
A weather icon next to the date to load weather history for that place and time (see Weather).

If several points sit at the same place, use the arrows to step through them. You can also click the popup header to open those points in the data table, or use the Correct location link to fix a point's position (see Correcting Point Locations).

The Data Table

Open the Data panel to see your data in a spreadsheet-style table.

Switch between All Data and the current Filtered view.
Search across all columns; separate words narrow the results further.
Show/Hide Columns to focus on what matters.
Sort by clicking a column header, and resize columns by dragging their edges.
Click rows to select them (use Ctrl/Cmd or Shift to select several); selected points are highlighted on the map.
Export CSV directly from the table.

To edit a value, double-click a cell, type the new value, and click away to save. You can revert a single edit or revert all edits to return to the original data.

Correcting Point Locations

If a point is in the wrong place, you can move it to the correct spot.

You can start a correction in two ways:

In a point's popup, click Correct this point (or Correct all points when several share a location).
In the data table, select one or more rows and turn on location editing.

A draggable marker appears on the map. Move it to the right location to update the point's coordinates. Make sure the Scatter Plot layer is on, since corrections are made on individual points.

Analytics

Open the Analytics panel for a closer look at your data. It has three tabs:

Calendar – an activity calendar that shows how your data is distributed across days, with lighter-to-darker shading for fewer-to-more records. Click a day to select those points on the map. This needs a date (or year/month/day) mapped in Column Mapping.
Elevation – an elevation profile chart (see Elevation).
Weather – weather history for a selected point (see Weather).

Weather

HooMap can show historical weather for any point.

Click a point on the map.
In the popup, click the weather icon next to the date.
The weather chart opens in the Analytics panel.

The chart shows temperature (high/low), precipitation, and wind (direction and gust speed). Depending on how specific your date is, you can switch between views:

A few days around the date,
Hour by hour for a single day,
Day by day across the Month,
Month by month across the Year.

Use the arrows to step through nearby days. You can also turn on a cloud imagery overlay to see satellite cloud cover for a specific day, and adjust its opacity.

Weather is estimated historical data and actual conditions may have varied. Weather data comes from Open-Meteo, and cloud imagery from NASA GIBS.

Elevation

To explore elevation along your points:

Open the Analytics panel and choose the Elevation tab.
Pick a column that contains elevation values, or use Auto-fetch elevation to estimate elevation from terrain data.
The elevation chart appears; click a point on the chart to highlight it on the map.

Auto-fetched elevation is estimated from terrain data (AWS Terrain Tiles) and actual values may vary. Latitude and longitude must be mapped first.

Comments & Location Notes

HooMap supports two kinds of notes:

Data comments are attached to a specific data point. Open a point's popup and use Add Comment.
Location notes can be placed anywhere on the map. Turn on location-note mode (the flag button on the map), then click the spot where you want the note.

For each comment you can:

Edit or delete it.
Mark it resolved or unresolved.

Open the Comments panel to see all comments in one list. There you can search, jump to a comment's location on the map, open or close all popups at once, and select multiple comments to delete them in bulk.

Comments are kept for your current session. Pro users can save them as part of a project file to keep them.

Snapshots (Saved Views)

A snapshot captures your current view — filters, colors, and visualization settings across all your loaded files — so you can return to it later.

Use the camera button at the top of the filter panel to save the current view instantly.
Rename a snapshot, view its saved conditions with the info icon, or delete it.
Apply a snapshot at any time to restore that view.

Snapshots are kept for your current session. Pro users can save a project file (including snapshots) to keep them between sessions.

Exporting Your Work

Your data stays in your browser and is not stored on any server. Exporting is how you keep your work.

Pro users have access to export and save functions:

CSV Export – download your data including any elevation values and comments.
HooMap Project (Excel .xlsx) – a complete project file that includes all data, snapshots, and settings, so you can pick up exactly where you left off.

Saving projects on Chrome and Edge (including macOS)

On Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera, etc.), HooMap uses the File System Access API. This means you can save your project directly to a file on your computer without a download dialog appearing each time. On the first save, a "Save As" dialog appears where you choose the file location. After that, subsequent saves overwrite the same file silently — just like saving in a desktop app.

You can also open a previously saved project file to continue where you left off.

Other browsers (Safari, Firefox, mobile)

On browsers that do not support the File System Access API, saving a project downloads a new .xlsx file each time. To continue working on a project, drag and drop the saved .xlsx file back into HooMap.

Free users cannot export. Session data is lost when the tab is closed.

Account & Billing

You can explore and visualize data without an account. Creating an account and upgrading to Pro removes the free-plan limits and unlocks the full feature set.

Free plan

Each file shows the first 500 rows.
One file at a time.
All visualization layers (Scatter, Hexagon, Heatmap, Grid, Choropleth, Polygon, Path, Trips).
Dark and Light base maps.
All filtering, time playback, data editing, comments, snapshots, polygon selection, color customization, activity calendar, weather, and elevation tools.

Pro plan

Unlimited rows per file.
Up to 10 files simultaneously, with same-format file grouping.
Satellite and Terrain base maps with 3D terrain rendering.
Data export (CSV and Excel project file).
Save and reopen project files (silent overwrite on Chrome/Edge).
Email support.
Available as a monthly or annual subscription (the annual plan is discounted).

Managing your account

From your Profile you can update your display name, email, password, and profile picture, manage your subscription and billing, and delete your account. Deleting your account is permanent and cannot be undone.

Map Credits & Attribution

When using or sharing maps created with HooMap, please include proper attribution for the base map sources. Each base map style relies on third-party data providers, and their terms require visible credit.

OpenFreeMap – Dark and Light vector tiles are served by OpenFreeMap.
AWS Terrain Tiles – elevation data from AWS Terrain Tiles / Mapzen.
Weather data – Open-Meteo (free for non-commercial use with attribution).
Cloud imagery – NASA GIBS (public domain, attribution appreciated).

When embedding or publishing a map screenshot, include these credits visibly near the map or in an accompanying caption. This is a requirement of the data providers' terms of service.