Bing maps location field not working

[Anonymous]

Hello,

The location field in Bing maps in PowerBI desktop does not recognise country names, but does recognise latitude and longitude coordinates. (Country names has the data category "Country".)

Likewise, for another dataset bing maps does not recognise UK postcodes.

And for both of the maps described above, ArcGIS recognises Country names and postcodes and correctly maps the data. Therefore, deduce the location field is not working in Bing maps. (I prefer to use Bing maps because it has the option of a legend).

How do I resolve this issue?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi  @Anonymous ,

As far as I’m concerned, this is a limitation which is mentioned in the official document:

Map data can be ambiguous. For example, there's a Paris, France, but there's also a Paris, Texas. Your geographic data is probably stored in separate columns – a column for city names, a column for state or province names, etc. – so Bing may not be able to tell which Paris is which. If your dataset already contains latitude and longitude data, Power BI has special fields to help make the map data unambiguous. Just drag the field that contains your latitude data into the Visualizations > Latitude area. And do the same for your longitude data.

For more info, please refer to this link:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-filled-maps-choropleths

Best Regards,

Liu Yang

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

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply.

Established that long and lat work (as shown in the screenshot) but any geographical data (countries, postcodes etc) put into the location field does not work on my network. Seems something internally at my organisation blocks the search function from working, so looking into why that is.

[Pragati11]

Hello,

Just tried the same map at my end, it works perfectly fine by recognising Country as a location. See below:

Also Data CAtegory for my country column is also Country:

My country column has data values in the following format:

Thanks,

Pragati

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Okay, so if it location field works for other users - perhaps it is a setting that needs to be changed on my computer - any suggestions on what this might be?

[Pragati11]

HI @Anonymous ,

There is no setting required for this. It should work by-default.

What values do you have in your Country column? Are they similar to mine?

Also I am working with the latest Power BI Desktop version.

Refer the folowing article if it helps you:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-map-tips-and-tricks

You can also try ArcGIS map visual.

Thanks,

Pragati

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am using the same values you have for the Country column (the data category is set to Country)...and also working in the latest version of PowerBI.

Preferably would like to use Bing maps because there is an option to have legend, therefore want to get this issue resolved 😅

[Pragati11]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Is it possible to share your pbix file by removing any sensitive information?

Did you try deleting the chart and re-creating it again?

Thanks,

Pragati

[Anonymous]

Hello @Pragati11 

Unfortunately, my organisation prevents me from sharing a onedrive link externally...is there another way to share a .pbix file on this forum?

[Pragati11]

HI @Anonymous ,

You can upload the .pbix file to dropbox or Wetransfer and share the link here.

But please make sure to remove any sensitive data from it.

Thanks,

Pragati

[Anonymous]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gq6iy073npn8nd/Test%20Bing%20maps%20visualisation.pbix?dl=0 

I sent the file to some colleagues and the visualisation using the location field doesn't function properly for them either.

Your help is much appreciated @Pragati11 

[Pragati11]

HI @Anonymous ,

I opened your .pbix file and it just worked for me. I didn't change anything.

I have saved this pbix as a new file and you can find it here: https://wetransfer.com/downloads/013b80a524aa01353921b87e118c15af20211213111437/27ef11024adc2d340f1112fb8552dcc220211213111455/0258f1

Just see if this works at your end now.

There is definitely not a setting for this in power BI. Seems to be something weird.

Also I have definitely seen others reporting similar issues on the forum, so it could be something to do with the Bing map not working properly. I suggest use Latitude & Longitude to avoid such errors.

Thanks,

Pragati

[Anonymous]

Hi @Pragati11 

Thank you for looking into this.

If the bing maps visualisation I sent works for you, this makes me think that something internally at my organisation is blocking the location field from working properly - going look into why that is happening.