Forum Discussion
Map Issue
Thank you for the extra details! Your observation is very insightful—the fact that you have 14 categories but only 12 show up, and missing ones appear only when you uncheck others, strongly points to a known limitation in Power BI visuals.
Category Limitations in Power BI Map Visuals:
- Many Power BI visuals, including some map visuals, have a default limit on the number of distinct categories (or "legend items") they can display at one time.
- For the standard Map visual and some other visuals (like pie or donut charts), this limit is often 12 categories. If you have more, Power BI may only display the first 12 and ignore or hide the rest.
- This behavior is by design to keep visuals readable, but it can be confusing if you aren’t expecting it.
What you can do:
- Try using a different map visual type, such as the “Azure Maps” visual or a custom visual from AppSource, which may support more categories.
- As a workaround, you can group less important categories together (e.g., into an “Other” category) to reduce the total distinct regions shown.
- Consider submitting feedback to Microsoft or voting on ideas in the Power BI community to increase these category limits.
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Super UserHi AMitchell ,
Map visualizations in Power BI sometimes have these kinds of issues where a region doesn’t appear as expected, even though your data and other visuals look correct. Here are some things you can check and try to resolve the problem:
1. Filter and Slicer Controls
- Double-check all filters, slicers, and page/report-level filters. Sometimes, a filter (even one you might not notice) can cause a region to be hidden from just the map visual.
- After selecting/unselecting in another visual, if the missing region appears, it usually means some cross-filtering or interaction is unintentionally hiding it.
2. Data Formatting and Categorization
- Make sure your postcode and region fields are set with the correct data category (like “Postal Code” or “Region”) under the Modeling tab.
- Check for leading/trailing spaces or slightly different spellings in your region names—these can cause a region not to be recognized by the map visual.
3. Relationships and Data Model
- If your visuals are pulling from multiple tables, check that relationships between those tables are correct and active.
- Try building a simple map using only the core fields (postcode, region, amount) from a single table to see if the issue persists.
4. Visual Interactions
- Use the “Edit Interactions” feature to ensure other visuals aren’t set to filter or hide data on your map unintentionally.
- Sometimes, visuals are set to “filter” instead of “highlight”—this can hide regions if the values don’t match exactly.
5. Visual/Cache Bugs
- Save, close, and reopen your report to clear any visual cache issues.
- Try deleting and recreating the map visual from scratch.
- Make sure you are using the latest version of Power BI Desktop.
6. Additional Checks
- Use “Show as table” on the map visual to see if your missing region is being passed as data to the visual.
- If the region appears in the data view but not on the map, it’s almost always a data category or interaction/filtering issue.
If you try all these steps and still have the problem, please share:
- The version of Power BI you’re using
- A sample of your data (dummy values are fine)
- More details about your model setup
This will help us give more targeted advice. Good luck, and let us know if you find the fix!