Final Friday Fix: July 2025 Challenge

On the final Friday of each month, we set an Excel / Power Pivot / Power Query / Power BI problem for you to puzzle over for the weekend.  On the Monday, we publish a solution.  If you think there is an alternative answer, feel free to email us.  We’ll feel free to ignore you.

The Challenge

This month’s challenge revolves around The Artist Formerly Known as Power Map and which is now called 3D Maps.  It started life in Excel 2013 viz.

3D Maps in Excel is a great tool for visualising geographic and time series (temporal) data in a three-dimensional format, allowing you to explore data relationships and trends in a way that may be encapsulated in a video and shown in PowerPoint, for example.  It plots data on a 3D globe or custom map, allowing you to see how data changes over time and to create these visual, video tours for sharing insights.

It has to be enabled as a COM add-in, whereby it used to appear on the Insert tab of the Ribbon: 

The question is very simple.  Given its versatility and analytical importance, it appears to have gone Missing In Action (MIA).  Without using your favourite search engine or AI tool, where the heck is it now..?

Sounds easy?  Then why not have a go?  We’ll publish one solution in Monday’s blog.  Have a great weekend in the meantime!