Displaying labels on an Azure Map visual in Power BI

[bwalker42]

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to solve this for the last several days, without success.

I created a map of Illinois with unique addresses as dots on the map (using Azure Map).  I'm using a reference layer (geojson file) to overlay the counties in IL.  The map meets all the criteria of what the user needs – except that it needs to label each county name. 

I have an excel spreadsheet with the unique addresses, latitude, and longitude that I use to place the dots (Addresses.png).  

I have a geojson file with all the county names and coordinates for each county (GeoJson 1.png, GeoJson 2.png).  This geojson file is what I use for the Reference layer in the map.

 

I've Googled and tried AI but can't find a way to get the county names to show up on the map.

Current Power BI Map.png shows the current state of the map.

 

Sadly, Power BI doesn't seem to have a way to display custom labels (that I can find).

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Brett

[v-priyankata]

Hi @bwalker42 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community.

@Shahid12523 @kushanNa Thanks for the inputs.

I hope the information provided by users was helpful. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to the community.

[v-priyankata]

Hi @bwalker42 

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by users. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

[bwalker42]

Hi v-priyankata, 

I did get some helpful responses but none completely solved my issue. Part of the problem is probably because I'm a newbie at Power BI.  I appreciate everyone's time.

[v-priyankata]

Hi @bwalker42 
I hope your issue has been resolved. If not, please let us know the specific problem you're experiencing, we are happy to assist you, or if any response is useful to you to resolve your issue please accept that as a solution.

[v-priyankata]

Hi @bwalker42 
Hopefully your issue is now fixed and everything is running as expected. If not, feel free to share more about what’s happening on your side. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

[kushanNa]

Hi @bwalker42 

You need to change the Latitude and Longitude to average, and then you can add a custom label. However, the catch here is that you will need to use County + another unique identifier to identify the location, since we are using averages.

I have created a new calculated column using County and Address.

Column = 'Table'[County] &" : " & 'Table'[Address1]

You can also use County + Code if the addresses are too long, as it should still be unique in all cases.

[bwalker42]

Thank you for your response.

I have other versions of this map using average of lat and long with an address count for the label.

For this map, they have to have each address as an individual dot so using average won't work.

Thanks,

Brett

[kushanNa]

Hi @bwalker42 

Sorry for the misunderstanding regarding your requirement. Yes, it seems like we will not be able to have custom labels on the map instead of data points.

Maybe for your printing requirements, you can try this temporary workaround and see if it works for you ?

• Add two layers to the map: one with shape and data, and the other with only county labels as category labels.

• Use the default style as blank on the top map with counties as category labels.

Limitations: You will not be able to interact directly with the map, but it should work with slicers.

I have attached the sample pbix file for your reference 

[bwalker42]

kushanNa,

Thank you very much for your reply and sample pbix file.  I appreciate your time.

I'm a newby to Power BI and got this unexpectedly.

I don't understand where the Azure Map visual is when I click on the map.  All I see is "Format button".  I don't know what a "button" is in this context.

Any additional explanation would be appreciated but I understand if you don't have time, etc.

Thank you, 

Brett

[kushanNa · Accepted solution]

hi @bwalker42 

I’ve added a transparent button on top of the map visual so that no one can interact with it directly. As I mentioned, there’s a limitation — the map won’t work properly with direct user interaction. Only slicer interaction will work.

You can see the layers in the dashboard by opening the Selection pane. If you want to check the map settings without moving the visuals, you can select the map visual from the Selection panel.

[bwalker42]

Thank you kushanNa.

I'll spend some time working on this.

Brett

[bwalker42]

@Shahid12523 

Thank you for your response.

I can't use tooltips because the labels to be on the final map (exported to PDF).

Can you give some details on how to do "Bubble Layer Centroids", "Convert GeoJSON to Points", and "Static Image Overlay"?  I'm new at making maps and I'm not familiar with those concepts.

Thanks,

Brett

[Shahid12523]

Power BI’s Azure Map visual doesn’t support direct labels on reference layer polygons like counties. But here are quick workarounds:
- Bubble Layer Centroids: Add county center points as a separate layer and enable category labels.
- Convert GeoJSON to Points: Use point features with county names to show labels.
- Tooltips: Hover to see county names from the GeoJSON properties.
- Static Image Overlay: Add a labeled map image over the visual (non-interactive).

[bwalker42]

Shahed,

Thank you for your response.

I can't use tooltips because the labels to be on the final map (exported to PDF).

Can you give some details on how to do "Bubble Layer Centroids", "Convert GeoJSON to Points", and "Static Image Overlay"?  I'm new at making maps and I'm not familiar with those concepts.

Thanks,

Brett