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mjfulke's avatar
mjfulke
Microsoft Employee
9 years ago

Create Your Own Custom Map for Power BI

Hi, I’m sharing back with community here (I encourage you to do the same as you come across your own useful Power BI tips and recipes)   In this post, I will share how to create a custom map file t...
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mjfulke's avatar
mjfulke
Microsoft Employee
9 years ago
Hello, All of the map keys should be visible in MapShaper.org. Click the info ("i") on the right menu and then select the different shapes. All of these columns should show up as keys in the Power BI shape map visual. The "name" column is the one you want to map your data to. NOTE: The Map Key dialog box is very skinny so you may need to scroll to the right to see the name column
hdunn's avatar
hdunn
Frequent Visitor
9 years ago

Thanks for posting this.

I am able to upload my data into the shape map. 

My issue is that my data was converted with over 500 polygons and it covers the whole Australia. It hangs the whole report while refreshing the map.

I think this could be caused by the size of the map.

Is there size limitation for a customised map, particularly for long road or large polygons with many vertex?

Helen

 

  • Capstone's avatar
    Capstone
    Resolver I
    9 years ago

    I believe so as well as Im having the same problem for the last few days. My file sizes are around 25MB and power BI doesnt like it. I imported the statistical areas map of Australia and though it imports fine, you cant do much with it as it freezes and crashes. Hope they fix it.

    • hdunn's avatar
      hdunn
      Frequent Visitor
      9 years ago

      I initially tried Esri Map option. It generalised so much that you couldn't even recognise the area. 

       

      Wonder if anyone has used both maps successfully on the REAL spatial data, not just simple point data.

       

      I contacted Esri support, and was told that this product is not supported by Esri and advised to contact MS. I don't know who to contact in Microsoft to discuss both maps. Anyone has idea?

       

      I recommand there should a special discussion community of using maps.

       

      Helen

  • mjfulke's avatar
    mjfulke
    Microsoft Employee
    9 years ago

    My suggestion is to use mapshaper.org and use the "Simplify" feature.  You will find that by reducing the complexity of your shapes up to as much as 50-60% you can visually get about the same map.  For example, I have a map of all the counties in the U.S. which is approximately 3000 shapes.  The total file size is 1.25 MB.    It's not as much a Power BI problem but a PC/device issue trying to render lots of detailed Polygons.  Use mapshaper to reduce the detail of your shapes and it should render faster.

    • hdunn's avatar
      hdunn
      Frequent Visitor
      9 years ago

      Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try. Hopefully, it won't have the similar behavious as the Esri Map into which I published the same data and used in other GIS applications without problem. It was simplied on the fly when it loaded into the Power BI.

       

      Helen 

    • Capstone's avatar
      Capstone
      Resolver I
      9 years ago

      Thank you. I used the simply option in mapshaper and it certaintly helps render faster.

      • hdunn's avatar
        hdunn
        Frequent Visitor
        9 years ago

        Hi,

        Does your custom map work with slice?

        Helen 

    • hdunn's avatar
      hdunn
      Frequent Visitor
      9 years ago

      Hi,

      FYI. After a few simplification trials, I found a data below 1MB doesn't slow down the report. 4MB data is still too big with my quite powerful PC.

       

      My next issue is the location is not recognised. Even though I set automatic Zoom/Selection Zoom on. It doesn't behave the same as the standard map, such as Australian State map.

       

      Is there requirement the map data must meet?

       

      Thanks

       

      Helen

      • mjfulke's avatar
        mjfulke
        Microsoft Employee
        9 years ago

        hdunn your "Name" property in the Google Maps needs to have values that match your data values.   Then it should work and you can set auto-zoom etc. and it will just work.