Google Analytics provides its users with a lot of useful statistical data, including detailed data about the geographical distribution of site visitors.
To see a map of the Earth with visitor locations, go to
All Reports -> Marketing Optimisation -> Visitor Segment Performance -> Geo Map Overlay.
This map gives an excellent overview of the distribution of the site visitors around the world. But what if you need a more detailed overview? The zoom possibility of this map is limited.

The solution

The statistical data from Google Analytics is downloadable in various formats, including XML. GeoExplorer uses this data to get very detailed, flexible and interactive presentations of the distribution of your site visitors around the world. You can zoom in on even the smallest town. This presentation will be made with the Free Map24 Ajax API.

How it works

1. Download your Google Analytics data as XML.
   To do it, look at the toolbar at the top left:
   and click on the XML button: .
   Place the downloaded XML file on your server, so that it can be achieved per HTTP.
   
2. Get your Free Map24 AJAX Application Key.
   Go to devnet.map24.com/map24-ajax-api/ajax_free_register and follow the instructions. The registration is quick and easy.
   
3. Unzip GeoExplorer, configure it and upload to your server.
   Actually it is only possible to use it on a remote server, because of the Map24 authentication.
   To configure the tool, open the file config.js.
   Type the URL of your data source, your preferable options and your personal Map24 keys, which you should have received on the Map24 site.
   That's it - no installation necessary.

Browser requirements

The Free Map24 AJAX API currently supports the following Web browsers:

• Internet Explorer 5.5+
• Firefox 0.8+
• Safari 1.2.4+
• Netscape 7.1+
• Mozilla 1.4+
• Opera 7+

In order to load the XML data, your browser must be able to create a XMLHTTPRequest object.

Performance

The more locations you show on the map, the slower the performance will be.
To balance between performance and data volume, there are 2 options:
1. you can select only one country;
2. you can make locations show up on the map only if they have a certain number of visitors. With the minimum level=1, all locations which have at least one visitor will be present on the map, which will make the map load slower. The default minimum is 10.