Text field automatically coming as a map visual...but it's not related to geography

[Anonymous]

Hello Community, 

I have two fields, both essentially the exact same...one is return items, one is received, both are text and both look like ABC-1234.  Both live in the same table. 

Odd thing is, when I drag one field into the canvas it naturally shows up as text, and defaults to a table visual (correctly).    The other, defaults to the map visual.     I cannot figure out why.     Any ideas?  

[v-angzheng-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Anonymous 

This brings me to the xVelocity compression engine.

Data compression Vertipaq is the database and engine that runs on top of Power BI and PowerPivot. When we import data in Power BI, the Vertipaq database will try with a series of algorithms, to compress the data as much as possible and the best way possible so it is easy and fast to query it with DAX.

Maybe you have experienced that when we use a data source, power bi automatically analyzes the data type for you and converts it for you. This suggests that powerbi automatically does an analysis job, which gives me reason to believe that I am now experiencing the same thing.
I try to add an empty table without any data in it but with the column name Country and just that, when I drag and drop the column into the canvas, PowerBI gives me a map visual. It seems that PowerBI automatically recognizes some common column names, which can be convenient for us in some cases. After my research, when I drag and drop sales fields to the canvas, powerbi gives me a bar graph, when it comes to text fields, powerbi may give me a table, but sometimes as you mentioned, powerbi gives me a map. There is reason to believe that this is the analysis and optimization that powerbi provides.

In your case, power bi does give you a default visual when you drag and drop fields, but you can still replace it with the visual you want. Think of this as a smart aspect of powerBI and enjoy it.
Glad to see different insights.

reference:

What is Vertipaq and how does it work?

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Zeon Zheng
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

 

[amitchandak]

@Anonymous , Click on the column. Column tool will open or show. In column tools, you have Data Category. Make data category as uncategorized

[Anonymous]

Yes, it definitely already is.