Newbie trying to plot Longitude/Latitude coordinates

[Jimignatowski]

Hello,

If anyone has a moment, I was hoping someone could provide suggestions or advice on leveraging PowerBI to analyze an Excel spreadsheet.   The sheet contains columns for longitude and latitude, plus a number of additional columns like date that are associated with them.  I was hoping to leverage PowerBI to mark each coordinate on a map and show information from the various columns associated with those coordinates when you hover over the spot.   I’m a complete newbie with PowerBI so forgive my lack of knowledge.   I was able to import the spreadsheet and I’m using the “MAP” visualization.  I have placed the latitude and longitude coordinates in their respective fields and have the locations plotted.   

My issue is how can I now associate the other spreadsheet columns with these coordinates?    I’m also confused about the “Location” dialog box – what does this represent ?  I was hoping to use the “Legend” dialog box to display month & day – but I can only use one spreadsheet column.  Is there a way of concatenating two columns for the legend ? 

I’m also having issue with the data being aggregated when placing the spreadsheet column into the filters or other data fields.  

Any thoughts on this ?  Is PowerBI the right application for plotting data on a map ?   Anywhere I can get a quick education on using PowerBI for this kind of a project ?   Thank you in advance !

[Jimignatowski]

Thank you very much burakkaragoz !  This is excellent information.  

[burakkaragoz]

Hi @Jimignatowski ,

You’re definitely on the right track using Power BI’s Map visualization with your latitude and longitude data! Here are some suggestions to help with your questions:

1. Associating Other Spreadsheet Columns:

• Once you’ve set up your latitude and longitude fields, you can drag any other column (like date, category, etc.) into the “Tooltips” area in the Visualizations pane. This way, when you hover over any point on the map, you’ll see info from those additional columns in the popup.

1. The “Location” Dialog Box:

• The “Location” field can be used for addresses, city names, or other geographic data, but since you already have lat/lon, you can leave this blank or use it for a descriptive label if you want. It’s not required when you have both latitude and longitude set.

1. Using “Legend” for Multiple Columns:

• Power BI only allows one column in the “Legend” field. If you want to combine, say, month and day, you can create a new column in Power Query (or in your Excel sheet) that concatenates those two values, e.g., [Month] & "-" & [Day]. Use this new column as your Legend.

1. Data Aggregation Issues:

• By default, Power BI aggregates data points that have the same coordinates and legend value. If you want to see all points separately, make sure each row in your data has unique lat/lon (and legend) values. Adding an ID column or using more granular legend values can help.

1. Is Power BI Right for This? Learning Resources:

• Power BI is well-suited for simple map visualizations like this. For more advanced mapping, you might also look at ArcGIS for Power BI or other mapping tools, but for most business/reporting use cases, Power BI is a good fit.
• There are lots of great tutorials on YouTube and Microsoft’s official docs for Power BI maps and data modeling.

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