Azure Map getting the wrong Country

[Colin_Davis]

I have a column which is the 3 letter ISO country code, which I have set as "Country" in the Data Category.  I have used that column as the "Location" data for the Microsoft Azure Map visual.  But, for example, AUS (for Australia) is showing as in the USA.

How can I get Azure Map to only look for Country as the location?

Thanks

Colin 

[DataNinja777 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Colin_Davis ,

The issue with using three-letter ISO country codes (ISO3) in Azure Maps is that it may not always recognize them correctly, especially when other location context (such as city or region) is missing. Azure Maps is primarily optimized for full country names and two-letter ISO country codes (ISO2), which are more universally recognized in geolocation systems. While three-letter codes are a standard (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3), many mapping services, including Azure Maps, tend to favor the two-letter version (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2) because it is the default standard in many global datasets and APIs.

If you prefer to use the three-letter ISO codes, the best way to ensure accurate results is to explicitly categorize the column as "Country/Region" in Power BI. This step helps Azure Maps recognize the values as country identifiers rather than ambiguous abbreviations. However, since Azure Maps may still misinterpret certain three-letter codes (e.g., interpreting "AUS" as Austin, Texas instead of Australia), the safest approach is to map your three-letter codes to full country names or ISO2 codes, both of which are recognized more consistently.

If you want to test whether Azure Maps can reliably interpret your ISO3 country codes, you can try the following:

Set the Data Category of your "Country" column to "Country/Region" in Power BI.
Refresh the Azure Maps visual and check if the mapping issues persist.
If incorrect placements still occur (e.g., "AUS" showing in the U.S.), then converting to ISO2 or country names is the better option.
Using a mapping table allows flexibility—you can retain the three-letter codes in your dataset but also have an alternative column with ISO2 codes or full country names, ensuring that Azure Maps functions correctly while keeping your original data intact. If Azure Maps does work correctly with ISO3 after explicitly categorizing it, then there is no need to switch to ISO2. However, if issues persist, using ISO2 or full country names will provide a more reliable solution.

Best regards,

[Colin_Davis]

Thank you, yes 2 letter country codes seem to work much better.  
This may not be the best solution, but I copied the table of codes from List of country codes by alpha-2, alpha-3 code (ISO 3166) and pated that into Excel.  I then imported that as a table and created a new column on my existing table using LOOKUPVALUE to fetch the 2 letter code.