Make the X and Y axis scales equal on an Excel chart

Question

I'd like the X and Y axes of my Excel charts to have the same scale on the screen, because I'm plotting geographical data. A 1km by 1km square should look like a square, not like a rectangle, i.e. no squishing of the map in one or the other direction. In Matlab, the command that would do this is axis equal.

How do I do this using VBA? (I've never manipulated charts using VBA.)

Am I overlooking an even simpler solution directly in Excel?

Answer 1

right-click on each axis and change the max and min values to make them equal the other axis. You will need to do this for each axis.

Answer 2

In addition to guitarthrower's answer you will need to do the following: Select the 'Plot Area' of the chart and then manually set the height and width of the plot area.

Sheets("Chart1").PlotArea.Select
  Selection.Height = 500
  Selection.Width = 500

Just setting the axis min and max values will still allow the chart to be 'squished'.

Answer 3

StewBob's approach is refined in the code posted on this page: Make Gridlines Square