ArcGIS Maps for Power BI v2024.1.400 completely broken

[AqWP4xjr]

edit: Confirmed bug by Esri. ArcGIS for Power BI - Maps not loading properly issue update - Esri Community

Here are some workarounds to try in the meantime.

1. In Power BI Desktop, you can get it to function again by toggling something in the Visualizations > Format Visual panel, but you have to do this every time to open the file or switch to a different page. You can resolve the issue by deleting your map visuals, clearing your cache, and rebuilding them from scratch. They instructed me to clear the cache by going to C:\Users\[your user]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop\ and deleting the Cache and WebView2 folders.
2. In the Power BI Service, for internally published reports, there is no true resolution. If there is a map on your landing page, it will not load. But if you go to another page and then go back to that page, it will load. Sure, this is just one extra step for me, but telling your end users the map doesn't work unless you flip back and forth between pages isn't a great look.
3. In the Power BI Service, for public/embedded reports, if you clear your cache, rebuild the reports from scratch, and republish the report, the maps will work.

edit: It turns out Map Tools > Settings > Validate is not a new feature. I just had never seen or used it before. My report has had a public link/embed code for months with functioning ArcGIS visuals, so the Validate step is probably not causing the problem.

---

I have a Power BI report using the ArcGIS Maps for Power BI visual that has existed for several months. This visual is used on two pages: the home/landing page and one other page. The June/July v2024.1 update caused some headaches, but I rebuilt the visuals, and they have been working since then.

Last Friday (Aug 23, 2024), the visual on the second page started saying, “This map does not meet the requirements for published reports.” This was confusing, because the structure of the visual had not changed since I rebuilt it after the v2024.1 update.

This morning, I opened the report in Power BI Desktop to troubleshoot, and I found that both visuals (not just the second one) appeared blank other than their titles. I refreshed the data, and nothing happened. And I could not access the Map Tools because the maps don’t appear.

I tried adding a new page and creating a new map from scratch. While doing this, I noticed several changes to the Map Tools experience. Regardless, I took the following steps to investigate.

1. Add latitude and longitude from a Power BI table into the latitude and longitude fields
2. Add a layer from my enterprise ArcGIS data by going to Map Tools > Layers > ArcGIS Data > ArcGIS > My Groups > ABC Group > DEF Layer
3. I first noticed a problem when the Coordinates layer did not appear where it used to under Map Tools > Layers. Only the DEF Layer appeared. The coordinates also didn’t appear on the map.
4. I scrapped this map and restarted again. This time, I only added the lat/long fields and did not bother yet with the ArcGIS layer.
5. Again, the Coordinates layer did not appear under Map Tools > Layers. Neither did they appear on the actual map.
6. I repeated these steps to create another new map after signing out of ArcGIS through the tool and instead choosing Continue as Guest. I got the same results.
7. In my troubleshooting, I noticed something new under Map Tools > Settings > Settings. It read, “Embed and publish to web: Check to make sure your map will publish and embed without failures.” And beneath it was a button reading Validate.
8. I created another new map and signed into ArcGIS and added lat/long (the same steps I took in Step 4). Again, I had to do this on a new map because the Map Tools are not accessible on my existing maps. They still appear blank.
9. I clicked the Validate button. Then, in a green box, it said, “The map has passed the embed and publish check.” It also displayed 4 green checkmarks for Coordinates, Basemap Layer, Reference Layer, and Infographic Cards.
10. The coordinates then appeared on the map, and a Coordinates layer appeared under Map Tools > Layers.
11. I repeated the validation step after creating another new map, this time with both the lat/long coordinates and a layer from my ArcGIS data (like in Steps 1 and 2).
12. The coordinates appeared on the map, and both the Coordinates layer and DEF Layer from ArcGIS appeared under Map Tools > Layers.
13. I switched back to the pages with my existing visuals, hoping the validation would somehow carry through all the map visuals, but they still appeared blank.
14. When I switched back to the page with the new map, that map now appeared blank as well.
15. To reiterate, these maps appeared blank with no error message. The only error message was displaying on the second visual when viewed through the public link, saying, “This map does not meet the requirements for published reports.” Which is clearly incorrect because the visuals were validated.
16. At this point, I had the thought to try these steps again the Power BI Service editor instead of Power BI Desktop.
17. I created a new page with a new report with the lat/long coordinates and the DEF Layer.
18. This time, when I switched back to the pages with the other two visuals, they worked! The new map visual also worked when I went back to that page!
19. I deleted the new page and visual, and the other two continued to work.
20. I saved and closed the report.
21. I opened it in a new tab through the workspace link (not the public link). The map on the home/landing page appeared blank, but when I navigated to the page with the second visual, it worked! Then when I went back to the Home/Landing page, that visual worked as well. I figured I had found a barely passable short-term solution.
22. I opened the report from the public link and was greeted by a functioning visual on the home/landing page!
23. I navigated to the other page, and that visual was still broken. It was still returning the message, “This map does not meet the requirements for published reports.”

During my troubleshooting, I re-read Esri’s and Microsoft’s documentation for setting up the ArcGIS Maps for Power BI visual. Neither gave me any other ideas. Esri’s documentation appears to have been updated to reflect the “Embed and publish check” under Settings. Microsoft’s documentation (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualizations-arcgis) hasn’t been updated to reflect the v2024.1 update. In fact, it hasn’t even been updated since Apr 19, 2023. Even some of their links to Esri’s site are broken (https://www.esri.com/powerbi).

I checked the ArcGIS for Power BI Blog on the Esri Community site where the post for v2024.1 (https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-for-power-bi-blog/arcgis-for-power-bi-v2024-1/ba-p/1499563) was published. I looked for a similar post for v2024.1.400, but one does not exist. I looked all over for patch notes and could not find anything.

I am at a loss and out of ideas. My organization just debuted this report to our board and to the public on Thursday, and the maps (one of the critical pieces) stopped functioning literally the next day.

If someone asked me to summarize my experience using this visual in one word (even before this occurred), I would describe it as “frustrating.” I would also tell them to consider it a preview tool in beta and not an officially released product. I’ve spent more time working against this tool than working with it. However, before Friday, it was at least functional.

Both Microsoft and Esri employ thousands of people. And yet, neither can be bothered to follow basic software release procedures and publish patch notes. To me, this speaks to the lack of professionalism with which this tool is treated.

I’m sure the developers are working hard to maintain and update this tool, but the casualness of QA (again, even before this situation) and indifference to proper documentation make me regret using it and will have me recommending others not even try it for a long time. This is disappointing because the tool has a lot of promise.

Frankly, it is unacceptable to release a so obviously undercooked and broken product without calling it a beta.

Anyway, does anyone here have ideas on how to fix this?

[phansen]

I share your frustration! I, too, tried everything you just described and had similar results! 😓 My dashboards are posted on the city's website. Telling the community the map doesn't work unless you choose different filters isn't a great look... especially for community members who aren't tech-savvy. 

I recently found the GIS map that is in my Power Bi published report sporadically works (loads the first time the dashboard loads on the webpage) in Chrome and never works in Edge (unless the filter is changed). 

As mentioned above - This is very disappointing because the tool has a lot of promise and can have the ability to share important information in a user-friendly format. 

[v-junyant-msft]

Hi @AqWP4xjr ,

Let me relay the results of the engineer's tests. First of all, ArcGIS Maps is not an official visual object provided by Microsoft, this is a special custom visual object created and maintained by a third party, Esri. Additionally, our engineers have reproduced your issue on Power BI Service and captured the relevant Network Trace, and it appears that the issue is due to some request URLs not being found that are attributed to Esri's side:

Suggest you go to Esri and open a support ticket there for developer help:
Esri Support | ArcGIS Technical Support

Best Regards,
Dino Tao
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[brjohns3]

Is there any update on this issue?  I am having the same problem.  I am having to remove and add something back to the map (usually a tooltip since they don't affect the formatting) to get it to display again.   

[AqWP4xjr]

The visual is broken. Esri's support team confirmed it. I'm baffled they released an update that broke this product. They won't be able to fix the bugs until November at the earliest because publishing to Microsoft requires various approvals and takes time.

Here is a community post from someone at Esri.

ArcGIS for Power BI - Maps not loading properly issue update - Esri Community

After this experience, I strongly recommend not using this visual. If they treat it this casually and release updates without properly testing them, who's to say they won't do it again in the future?

They helped me find workarounds that almost resolve the issues in the meantime, so I give Esri's support team some credit.

1. In Power BI Desktop, like you mentioned, you can get it to function again by toggling something in the Visualizations > Format Visual panel, but you have to do this every time to open the file or switch to a different page. You can resolve the issue by deleting your map visuals, clearing your cache, and rebuilding them from scratch. They instructed me to clear the cache by going to C:\Users\[your user]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Power BI Desktop\ and deleting the Cache and WebView2 folders.
2. In the Power BI Service, for internally published reports, there is no true resolution. If there is a map on your landing page, it will not load. But if you go to another page and then go back to that page, it will load. Sure, this is just one extra step for me, but telling your end users the map doesn't work unless you flip back and forth between pages isn't a great look.
3. In the Power BI Service, for public/embedded reports, if you clear your cache, rebuild the reports from scratch, and republish the report, the maps will work.

I started testing the Azure Maps visual and may transition to it entirely. It has several limitations, so you have to weigh the pros and cons. But so far, it seems more reliable. Even before this, I felt like I was constantly fighting the ArcGIS visual to force it to work as expected. That has been less so with Azure Maps. I suspect the Azure Maps visual gets more regular attention from Microsoft than the ArcGIS visual gets from Esri. We shall see.

[AqWP4xjr]

Thanks for investigating this further @v-junyant-msft. I opened a support ticket with Esri last week, but there doesn't seem to be much urgency on their side.

I'm having a hard time understanding how this isn't their Power BI development team's #1 priority since the tool is completely nonfunctional, or why they at least don't just revert back to the previous release that did function.

I relayed this information to them and hopefully it helps speed things along. In the mean time, I'm exploring the other map visuals. So far, Azure Maps seems the most promising for my use case, but there are a few frustrating limitations.

[v-junyant-msft]

Hi @AqWP4xjr ,

I'm sorry you're experiencing this problem, and I wonder if you could provide some screenshots of the problem you're experiencing during testing?
I don't see any other users reporting the same issue at the moment and I haven't been able to successfully reproduce it. I may need to get more information from the screenshots you provided to try to accurately reproduce your problem.

Best Regards,
Dino Tao

[AqWP4xjr]

Hi @v-junyant-msft, there honestly aren't many screenshots needed to show that it isn't working, but here are a few.

1. Here I have created a new file, added a table with lat/long and a few other fields, added an ArcGIS visual, and added lat/long to the visual. It appears to work fine.

Creating a new ArcGIS map with lat/long

2. Here I have navigated to Page 2 and then back to Page 1. The visual is now blank other than the title, and it's not because it's still trying to load. I recorded the steps in Performance Analyzer if that helps.

Navigating to a blank page and then back to the ArcGIS map

[v-junyant-msft]

Hi @AqWP4xjr ,

Thank you for the information, I have reproduced the issue on the latest version of Power BI Desktop and have escalated it to the Microsoft engineers, I will keep you informed if there is any progress on the issue!

Also, in my testing, I found that the problem only exists in Power BI Desktop, in Power BI Service everything is fine except that it loads a little slower. If you can, please switch to Power BI Service for the time being.

If you must use Power BI Desktop, you can manually refresh Power BI Desktop every time you open it and every time you switch pages, and it will resume displaying after the refresh.

I apologize for the inconvenience!

Best Regards,
Dino Tao
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[AqWP4xjr]

@v-junyant-msft, the problem exists in the Power BI Service as well, but it manifests in a different way. Here's what I am encountering in the PBI Service.

1. I save a report with an ArcGIS map on Page 1 (the landing page) and another on Page 2.
2. I view the report in the Power BI Service by finding it in our Workspace and clicking on it.
3. I am taken to Page 1, and the map does not appear. It is blank and only the title shows.
4. I navigate to Page 2 where the second map is located, and this map loads ok.
5. I navigate back to Page 1, and the map loads this time.

The tool is closest to functioning in the Power BI Service, but that does not help because the report is being viewed through the public link.

The problem manifests in a different way when you view the report through the public link/embed code. Here's what I am enountering there with the same report.

1. I view the report through the public link.
2. I am taken to Page 1, and the map loads.
3. I navigate to Page 2, and it does not load. The title appears, but instead of the map being blank, it says, "This map does not meet the requirements for published reports."
4. I navigate back to Page 1, and the map still loads.

This bug is broken in the desktop, service, and public versions of Power BI, but the behavior is different in each.

[v-junyant-msft]

Hi @AqWP4xjr ,

Oh sorry, I had Page2 as a blank page during my previous testing, so I didn't have any issues with Power BI Service. Now it seems as if there is an issue with the visual object itself, I have escalated the information you have provided, thank you for the detailed description!

Best Regards,
Dino Tao

[SanthiyaMallow]

@v-junyant-msft , any updates on the issue. I am facing a similar issue now in the PBI Desktop.

@AqWP4xjr , Have you resolved the issue ?

[AqWP4xjr]

@SanthiyaMallow Esri confirmed it as a bug on their end and said it would be fixed in their November 2024 release for this tool. I posted a few work arounds on their community site here.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-for-power-bi-questions/arcgis-for-power-bi-maps-not-loading-pro...