Why Does Map Visualization Reduce Points When Using "Average of Latitude and Longitude"?

[Lopez0083]

Hello Power BI Community,

I am trying to create map visualizations using a dataset with unique combinations of custom labels, latitude, and longitude.
However, I encountered an issue that I hope you can help clarify.

Here is the situation:

1. In the first visualization (on the right in the attached image), I used the latitude and longitude fields and set them to "Don't Summarize." This results in all points being displayed correctly on the map.
2. In the second visualization (on the left in the attached image), I used the custom label as the "Location" field and averaged the latitude and longitude values. Since my custom label, latitude, and longitude are unique in the dataset, I expected the left map to show the same number of points as the right one.
   

Problem:

The left map displays significantly fewer points compared to the right map, even though the latitude and longitude values are unique for each custom label. Why is this happening? Could it be due to how Power BI handles data aggregation for maps? Or am I missing a step in configuring the visualization?

For additional context, I’ve attached a sample dataset and the visuals for reference.

Thank you in advance for your insights!

[timalbers · Accepted solution]

Hi @Lopez0083 ,

if you select "Average" as summarization, you will receive only the average value for each "CustomLabel" dimension.

So within each category of "CustomLabel" the model calculates the average value, which leads to having only one value of latitude and longitude for each value in "CustomLabel".

This is also the reason why the points in your map are moving more towards the center of the map.

Hope this helps

[Lopez0083]

@timalbers 

Thank you for your explanation, it was very helpful in understanding why the number of points is reduced and why they shift towards the center when "Average" summarization is used.

I would like to achieve the following:
I want to keep all the data points displayed on the map as they are, while also enabling the category labels to show the "CustomLabel" for each data point.

Is there a way to achieve this while maintaining the visualization of all individual data points?

Thanks again for your help!

[timalbers]

Well that depends on which type of data the custom label contains:

• If you have category values use it for "legend" (best if there are only a few different category values, like 2-8 different values)
• If this field contains multiple different text values you may want it as "Tooltip", this will show the field when you are hovering over a certain data point
• If it's a numeric value you could use it for the "bubble size" property

Most important: If you want to have every data point displayed, make sure you'll have latitude as well as longitude summarization set to "Don't summarize" and also if you are working with these fields, keep the "location" property empty!