Maps provides access to over 200 maps covering various global and local geographic areas. It allows users to zoom, pan, select, and drill into data. Maps offers multiple geographic projections and contains built-in map material, enabling use without an Internet connection and without the connection to a map service like OpenStreetMap, Google Maps, or Bing Maps.

This documentation will guide you through the features and usage of the Maps visual, helping you to effectively integrate it into your Power BI reports.

Video Tutorials

Tutorial: Shape Mapping

Tutorial: Projections

Tutorial: Points & Connections

Tutorial: Labels

Tutorial: Colors

Tutorial: User Interaction

Tutorial: Charts

Maps Promo

How to get it

You can obtain Maps conveniently by using the "Get more visuals" function in Power BI Desktop or the Power BI Service.

A dialog box will appear, displaying a gallery of popular visuals and a search field. Use the search function and type "Maps" or "relevantvisuals" to find our visual. The resulting page will provide general information, details on plans and pricing, as well as ratings and reviews. Clicking the blue "Add" button will include the visual in your current Power BI report, enabling you to use it.

Data

Data Fields

Location - Used to reference geographic element (shape, point or route). To reference shapes use aivalable mapping attributes (e.g., a country's ISO code), for points and routes use geo-coordinates.

Category - Use this categorical field as identifier to set (formatting group based) colors and formatting.

Color value - Use to conditionally color shapes, points and routes.

Label values - One or multiple measures to be show as shape, point or route labels on the map.

Chart value - Assign a measure to this field to enable value‑based sizing of mini‑charts.

Route weight value - Assign a measure to this field for value‑based line weights.

Hierarchy definition - Custom shape hierarchies can be defined here.

Image value - Assign images to be displayed on the map (as markers or charts) here.

Hidden values - Assign additional measures (used for sorting or in tooltips) here.

Map - Assign a string measure to dynamically override the “Map” selection in the formatting pane.

Mapping attribute - Assign a string measure to dynamically set the mapping attribute used for shape mapping.

Assign at least a location field. An orthographic projection of the Earth will appear, and the formatting area will be populated with the visual's formatting options.

Field: Location

The location field is essential, because it is used to reference areas, points, or lines on the map. Areas are referenced using mapping attributes, while points and lines are defined by their geographic coordinates.

Mapping areas using mapping attributes

Areas are referenced using so-called mapping attributes. Each area of a map has a set of mapping attributes you can use. For example, on the default world map the United States of America can be referenced using either one of these attributes:

Use a data field containing country names, ISO codes (numerical three-digit or alphabetical two- or three-digit) to reference a single country, continent names, names of regions (United Nations grouping or World Bank grouping), or names of sub-regions to reference a group of countries. By assigning multiple data fields each referencing a different mapping attribute on a different drill level (e.g., continent and country), you can create a hierarchy, users can use to drill down. You can even define your own hierarchies.

To get an overview of available mapping attributes, assign any data to the "Location" field and toggle "Show mapping info" in the map formatting options.

This will display the mapping information for all areas of the map that could not be mapped using the provided "Location" data.

To avoid ambiguous shape resolution, specify the Mapping attribute field. It explicitly selects the mapping attribute the visual should use when multiple identifiers are available.

Projecting points by their geo coordinates

To project points on a map (e.g., cities or your company's locations), provide the point's geographic coordinates in the form [latitude|longitude]. For example, to display Berlin, Germany, on the map, use the measure value [52.52|13.40], and for New York City, use [40.75|-73.98].

Projecting lines/routes using their defining geo points

Similar to how points are projected on a map, you can also draw lines by defining their start and end points in the form of [latitude|longitude] [latitude|longitude]. For example, to draw a line from Berlin to New York City, you would use the measure value "[52.52|13.40] [40.75|-73.98]". Note that line definitions are not limited to just two coordinates, allowing you to visualize multiple connected lines (e.g., multi-stop routes).

Field: Category

The category field can be used to categorize locations and assign them a specific (group) color or other formatting (e.g., label or point marker formatting). For example, you could assign a color to your company's customer locations to represent their customer status. Group colors can be applied to areas, points and lines. Group individual formattings are available for labels and point markers.

Here is an example. The countries are colored by category "continent":

Categories can also be used as legends or to group values in mini‑charts.

For example, you can turn a single‑bubble chart into a packed‑bubble chart by separating the bubbles by category:

Field: Color value

With the "Color value" measure, you can implement value-based coloration for specific map elements, i.e. areas/shapes and routes/lines. Once a color value is assigned, users can enable coloration by color value and define colors and color scales in the visual's formatting area.

Here is an example. The countries are colored by their population:

Field: Label values

To display labels on areas/shapes, points, or lines, use the Label values data field. Labels can be numeric (e.g., sales for that location) or textual (e.g., the name of the location). To show multiple labels, simply assign multiple measures. They will be displayed line by line in the order in which they are assigned.

Field: Chart value

For minicharts (columns or circles) on areas, points or connections/flows/routes use the Chart value measure.

Here is an example where the circle sizes represent the populations of the cities:

Field: Route weight value

Assign a measure to this field to control conditional line weight. When a measure is placed here, the visual can use its value to dynamically scale the stroke width of routes (e.g., flows, connections). Otherwise, the default line width from the formatting pane is used (see Routes).

Field: Hierarchy definition

As explained in the Location section, users can drill down along predefined hierarchies if multiple fields are assigned, each containing matching mapping attribute references (e.g., continent "North America" on level 1 and country "US" on level 2).

With the "Hierarchy definition" measure, you can define additional groups to create your own two-level drill hierarchy. To create a group, the "Hierarchy definition" measure must contain, for each "Location" value, a list of areas/shapes (with matching mapping attributes) that the group consists of, separated by "|". For example, to define a custom group NAFTA, the measure value for that group would be US|CA|MX.

Here is an example of a hierarchy definition.

Before drill:

After drill on Southern Europe:

Field: Image value

Assign images to be displayed on the map (as markers or charts) here. The visual expects Data URI values, preferably Base64‑encoded. URL‑encoded SVG or other URL‑encoded strings are not supported and may be rejected by the sanitizer.

Field: Hidden values

Use this field for additional measures you need for sorting or measures to show exclusively in tooltips.

Field: Map

Assign a string measure to dynamically override the Map selection in the formatting pane. Use either the full map name or its abbreviation exactly as it appears in the map drop‑down. This allows you to switch maps based on your data

Field: Mapping attribute

The Mapping attribute field defines which mapping attribute (see Location) is used for shape resolution. Since many shapes expose several identifying attributes (e.g., name, admin, iso_a2, region), selecting the mapping attribute ensures that the visual uses the correct one when multiple matches are possible.

Formatting

Map & projection settings

Map

Map - Choose from over 150 built‑in maps (e.g., world, continents, individual countries with their administrative areas) to visualize your data. In addition, you can select Custom map to upload and use your own GeoJSON or TopoJSON map. This allows you to work with fully custom shapes, regions, or boundaries that are not included in the built‑in map library.

Map formatting - Define map color, opacity, and borders.

Empty areas - Toggle to display areas/shapes without data mapped to them.

Mapping info for unmapped areas - Toggle to show available mapping attributes to support data preparation and mapping.

Custom map

To upload your own GeoJSON or TopoJSON map and use it as your shape map or as a background for your routes and points, choose Custom map in the map selection.

An upload option will appear, allowing you to select the map file you want to use:

If you need to replace the file later, you can make the upload button reappear by toggling Upload file.

The visual supports only a single TopoJSON layer. If the uploaded file contains multiple layers (objects), only the first one will be used and all additional layers will be ignored.

In addition, the visual supports only Polygon and MultiPolygon geometries. Other geometry types (such as LineString, MultiLineString, or Point) are ignored during shape rendering.

Projection settings

Projection type - Choose from the projections available for the selected map. The options vary depending on the map selection.

Graticule settings - Only when using the orthographic projection, you have the option to display a graticule. If you opt to show it, define its color and stroke width (in pixels) here.

Interaction settings

General

Show interactivity controls - Toggle to display buttons directly on the visualization that allow convenient control of interaction settings. The buttons are located on the left side of the visual. For documentation on each button, see Interactivity controls. This is a premium feature.

Controls size - Define the size of these buttons.

Zoom

Toggle to enable zoom functionality on the visualization.

Show zoom controls - Toggle to display zoom buttons on the right side of the visual, allowing zoom via button clicks. If disabled, zooming is available using your device’s default method (e.g., mouse wheel, two-finger gesture).

Controls size - Define the size of the zoom control buttons.

Show zoom level - Toggle to display the current zoom level on the visualization.

Pan

Toggle to enable visual panning via drag.

Selection

Toggle to enable selection functionality within the visualization. Hold Ctrl (or your system’s equivalent meta key) to select multiple elements.

Center on selection - Toggle to have the visualization automatically center on the last selected element.

Center on slice - Toggle to have the visualization automatically center on filtered elements. This is a premium feature.

Center on highlighted - Toggle to have the visualization automatically center on highlighted elements. This is a premium feature.

Zoom on slice - Toggle to have the visualization automatically zoom in on filtered elements. This is a premium feature.

Interactivity controls

	Restore saved position
	Enable/disable zoom
	Enable/disable pan
	Enable/disable selection
	Enable/disable center on selection
	Enable/disable center on slice
	Enable/disable center on highlights
	Enable/disable zoom in on slice/filtered elements
	Enable/disable zoom in on highlighted elements

Point marker settings

The point marker settings become available as soon as your location data contains geo‑points, defined by their latitude and longitude (see point mapping).

Point markers - If your data (locations) includes point coordinates, you can define the marker format here, i.e., marker style (circle, square, diamond, pin, or star) and marker size (in pixels).

Allow overlap - Toggle to make the visual always show all markers, even when they overlap.

Route settings

The routes settings become available as soon as your location data contains connections/flows or routes (e.g., multi-stop connections), defined by pairs of latitude and longitude (see route mapping).

Line style - Options are solid, dashed, dotted, dashed (moving), and dotted (moving). Moving styles animate the dashes or dots along the line to visually indicate flow direction.

Smoothing - Toggle to smooth the lines.

Opacity - Make lines transparent by decreasing their opacity.

Arrow style - Lines can optionally have an arrow at the start, the end, or on both sides.

Line width (pixels) - Default stroke width of the lines.

Arrow size - Size of the arrows (in pixels).

Routes on top - Toggle to place routes/connections/flows on top of charts. Otherwise, charts will be placed on top.

Category settings

The Category field can be used in two different ways: for location grouping, or as an additional dimension in mini‑charts (e.g., the axis in a column chart). This behavior is entirely data‑driven. If the relationship location → category is unique, the category effectively groups locations. If it is not unique, the category values can be used as a second dimension inside mini‑charts.

Summarization

Summarization applies only to measures. If the relationship location → category is not unique, the visual must aggregate measure values across categories for elements that apply to the location itself (such as label or color values). The summarization settings let you define how each measure should be aggregated across categories for that location.

Category assignment

When a location has multiple category values, the visual must determine which category to assign to the location itself — for example when showing the category in tooltips or when coloring locations by category. The category assignment setting defines how the visual selects a single category value for each location.

Label settings

Labels can be displayed on all map elements (areas/shapes, points, and lines). They can be formatted individually for each element type.

Shape labels - Define formatting for labels on areas/shapes: color, font, background, and background opacity.

Shapes value formatting - Value formatting (display unit and decimal places) to be applied when the measure "Label value" is numeric.

Point labels - Define formatting for labels on point elements. Formatting options are equivalent to those of shape labels.

Line labels - Define formatting for labels on line/route elements. Formatting options are equivalent to those of shape labels.

Chart settings

Minicharts can be displayed on areas/shapes, points, as well as routes/flows/connections on the map.

Charts can be turned on or off and formatted individually for each element type. The formatting options are the same.

You can choose from different chart types: column, line, bubble, pie/donut and varios charts that simply scale icons or custom images according to the chart value measure.

Depending on the selected chart type there are various specific formatting options. See Chart types.

All charts share the settings for opacity and overlap control.

Opacity - Reduce to make charts transparent.

Allow overlap - Overlapping charts will remain visible if toggled. Otherwise overlapping charts will be removed in defined data order.

Some charts come with an anchor option for the chart positioning with two choices:

Center of chart - the chart itself is centered on the geographic location
Center of chart and label - the center of chart and label (above or below) is centered on the geographic location

Chart types

Bubble chart

Use category -

Bubble radius and custom max/min -

Label text formatting -

Background color -

Category and value labels -

Category and value label text formatting -

Column chart

A Column chart displays one or multiple columns, with column heights representing the absolute value of the assigned Chart value measure. A Circle chart displays a circle on each chart element, with the size of the circle representing the "Chart/size value" measure. A Bubble chart displays a circle that contains the label text, with the size of the bubble representing the "Chart/size value" measure.

Use category -

Scale individually -

Column height and custom min/max -

Width -

Line chart

Scale individually -

Line color and width -

Smoothing -

Show points and points size -

Show area and area opacity -

Show zero line and zero line color -

Chart height and custom max/min -

Width -

Background color -

Pie/donut chart

Circle chart

Symbols - pin and star

Image

Use category -

Chart size and custom min/max -

Background color -

Image shape -

Lines

Lines data width - When toggled, lines/routes' width will represent the value assigned to the "Chart/size" measure.

Lines min. width - Width of the line/route with the lowest absolute value in "Chart/size" measure.

Lines max. width - Width of the line/route with the highest absolute value in "Chart/size" measure.

Color settings

Color types

There are four "Color types" that define the basis of coloration. They can be individually selected for each element type (area/shape, point and line).

Static - Same static color for all elements of an element type.

Individual - Individual color for each single element.

Category - individual color for each category. Elements will inherit color from their category (see Category).

Value - Value based coloration (based on measure "Color value")

Depending on the color type selection the according formatting options will appear.

Legends

Tooltips

Formatting by category

Value formatting

Value formatting can be set for all available measure fields (color, label, chart, etc.). It will be considered when a measure has a numeric value and is shown on the screen, e.g. as label or tooltip.

You can define a display unit and decimal places.