This document provides guidance on creating maps in Power BI. It recommends building a strong geography dimension with codes instead of descriptions, and including latitude and longitude. It discusses various out-of-the-box map visuals like filled maps, shape maps, and ArcGIS maps. It also covers creating custom maps using TopoJSON files with R or Mapbox. Links are provided for additional map resources.

1. Choose Your Map
Lorenzo Vercellati
lvercellati@solidq.com

2. Sponsors

3. Lorenzo Vercellati
Power BI Solutions Architect @ SolidQ
SQL Saturday Speaker, Power BI Trainer
Working on Database since 2000, on SQL Server since 2007
PowerBI User Group Milan Administrator
Medieval History Graduate, Homebrewer
@supergimi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzovercellati/

4. Agenda

5. Coming Soon…
• Prepare Your Data
• Build a Strong Geography Dimension
• Clean Your Data
• Categorize Your Data
• Maps! Maps! Maps!

7. Prepare Your Data

8. Build a Strong Geography Dimension
Use Codes:
• ISTAT Codes (M052, F704 instead of Vimercate or Monza)
• State or Province Codes (AN, NY, IDF instead of Ancona, New York, Ile-de-France)
• Country Codes (ITA, USA, MEX instead of Italy, United States, Mexico)
Descriptions depends on too many factors
… and ERRORS!

9. Demo

10. Build a Strong Geography Dimension
Build a multi-level Hierarchy
Asia <continent>
Africa <continent>
Europe <continent>
North America <continent>
Canada <country>
Mexico <country>
United States of America <country>
New England <region>
Midwest <region>
California <region>
Sacramento Valley <region>
Sierra Nevada <region>
Bay Area <region>
Berkeley <city>
Palo Alto <city>
San Francisco <city>
Mission <district>
Golden Gate <district>
Castro-Noe Valley <district>

11. Build a Strong Geography Dimension
Use Latitude and Longitude as soon as possible

12. Categorize Your Data
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Help Bing doing its work!

13. Maps! Maps! Maps!

15. Out of the Box vs. Custom

16. Out of the Box

17. Out of the box
Filled Map Shape Map
ArcGIS Maps
Map
Map with R

18. Map
• Categorize your data to help
Bing Service
• Use combination of Location
field and Longitude and Latitude
with drill down for good results

19. Demo

20. Filled Map
• Great for US geographies
• Not so great outside of US

21. Shape Map
• A shape map is a visual built to show
comparisons of regions on a map by
applying different colors to each
region.
• It is based on shapefile, a storage
format developed by Esri, nowadays
universally recognized as standard for
storing geospatial information.
• A shapefile format spatially describes
vector features: points, lines,
polygons. It is therefore commonly
used to represent geometric locations
for data and its attributes

22. Shape Map
• Enabled in Preview Features
• Use mapshaper.org to convert to
TopoJSON
• If necessary, update manually
your TopoJSON

23. Custom Shape Map
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You can create your custom shape map and use it in Power
BI
You have to edit a topojson file, that generates the map
You can edit directly topojson file
You can use an online converter
Topojson is a subtype of geojson file type
Topojson structure consists in:
A list of arcs
A list of object with references to a sequence of contiguous
arcs

24. Custom Shape Map
Arcs are defined by an entry point and a sequence of
point.
Arcs have a defined direction
Object defined by arcs with reverse direction are
referenced by –arcs + 1
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An object can be a Polygon or a MultiPolygon
Every Polygon is defined by a set of contiguous arcs.
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25. Demo

26. ArcGIS Maps
• A GIS (Geographic Information
System) is a computer-based
tool that analyzes, stores,
manipulates and visualizes
geographic information on a
map.
• ArcGIS is the software developed
by Esri, for creating and using
maps, performing spatial
analysis, sharing and discovering
geographic information.

27. ArcGIS Maps
• Circles, Cluster, Heatmap
• Limit on points
• No drilldown
• Built in reference layers and
infographics for US only
• Premium subscription for
additional features

28. Demo

29. Maps with R
• R is the most common
open source language for
statistical computing and
graphics.
• R provides a wide variety
of statistical and graphical
techniques

30. Maps with R
• R scripts are fully supported in Power
BI, offering the way to perform
analytical and statistical analysis and to
create compelling visuals. The
integration of R in PowerBI grants
access to a rich array of data
visualizations not present in the
standard PowerBI set.
• R is shipped with a huge number of
packages for spatial data analysis and
plotting. Many sort of maps
(choropleths, map projections,
topological maps, animated maps, …)
and sketch options are available with R.

31. Map with R
• R Engine
• R packages (ggplot2, maps)
• R knowledge

32. Demo

33. Is There Anybody Out There?

34. Custom Maps from Marketplace
Globe Data Bars Globe Map Drilldown
Choropleth
Drilldown
Cartogram
Mapbox Icon Map
…and Others more!
Flow Map

35. Mapbox
• Requires access token
• Shows large number of points
• Multiple background layers,
including custom
• Cluster, Heatmap, Circles &
Choropleth
• Need to aggregate data
manually

36. Demo

37. Flow Map
• Shows routes or flows between
points
• Straight lines, great circle or
flows
• Longitude and latidude or
geocoding

38. Demo

39. Icon Map
• Open Streetmap, Mapbox,
Thunderforest &
openweathermap layers
• Circles, lines and icons

40. Demo

41. Drilldown Choropleth
• Custom shapes required in
TopoJSON and hosted externally

42. Drilldown Cartogram
• Custom shapes required in
TopoJSON and hosted externally

43. Synoptic Panel
• https://synoptic.design/
• Time-intensive compared to
other Power BI map options
• Some templates available in the
Synoptic gallery
• Fully customized areas for any
image

44. Globe Map
• Good for storytelling
• Not so good for analysis

45. Globe Data Bars
• No longer working 

46. Links on the Road

47. Maps
• https://mapshaper.org/
• https://christopherfinlan.com/category/datazen/maps/
• http://dataveld.com/2016/09/12/topojson-map-files-for-power-bi-shape-
map/
• https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/esri-plus-subscription-for-
arcgis-maps-for-power-bi-is-now-available/?cdn=disable
• https://github.com/deldersveld/topojson
• http://dataveld.com/2016/09/01/overcoming-potential-power-bi-shape-
map-rendering-issues/

48. TopoJson
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoJSON
• https://macwright.org/2015/03/23/geojson-second-bite.html
• http://geoexamples.com/d3/2015/09/25/d3-EUROSTAT-topojson.html

49. • https://blog.mapbox.com/the-fastest-maps-in-microsoft-power-bi-
4fc81b7ef890
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-map-tips-
and-tricks
• https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-maps-for-power-
bi/overview
…and more!

50. “To put a city in a book, to put the world on one sheet of paper: maps are the
most condensed humanized spaces of all...They make the landscape fit
indoors, make us masters of sights we can't see and spaces we can't cover.”
-Robert Harbison

51. Q&A

52. Grazie!