Why the difference in map location between desktop and service?

[PaulDBrown]

Good evening everyone, and above all, happy new year!

Can anyone shed any light on why there is a discrepancy between the physical depiction of an address in the map visual in desktop vs what is seen in the service? I am using the default map visualisation and using an address field formatted as  "Place" in the table column.

Here is what I see in Desktop (which is correct):

And here is how it is rendered in the service:

Just to confirm the above, here is the rogue location depicted by Bing maps (on the web) using the same address:

[mwegener]

Hi @PaulDBrown ,

Power BI makes a localized BING map request.

What language do you use in Power BI Desktop. (Try English-US)

Regards,

Marcus

Dortmund - Germany
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[PaulDBrown]

@mwegener 

Thanks Marcus for taking a look at this. 

My Power BI Desktop is in fact in English-US, though my Windows is in Spanish (I'm based in Spain).

Having said that, the rogue address (I've actually located at least another address which is rendered wrongly) is shown correctly in Desktop; it's once it's uploaded to the service that the location is wrong (which I find confusing, if not worrying).

I'd hate to have to resort to finding the lat-long coordinates manually to ensure the correct location settings (which of course directly undermines one of the benefits of BI).

Thanks again.

[mwegener]

Hi @PaulDBrown ,

If I answered your question, please mark my post as solution, this will also help others.
Please give Kudos for support.

[PaulDBrown]

@mwegener 

I would of course mark your suggestion as a solution, but unfortunately it isn't.

I still don't see why there is this discrepancy, and what is more worrying is the fact that Desktop renders the location correctly whereas as the Power Bi service doesn't. So anyone authoring a model in this situation might not even be aware of the fact that users consuming the report are not seeing the corrrect location, unless they get the necessary (discomforting, if not directly embarassing) feedback...

[mwegener]

Hi @PaulDBrown ,

could you share, how the address is formatted in your model?

[PaulDBrown]

@mwegener 

Hi again,

The address which doesn't work in the service (but does work in Desktop) is:

BS Address

393 promenade des Anglais, BP3116, Nice, 06202, France

And the column with all the addresses is formatted as "place"

[mwegener]

Hi @PaulDBrown ,

here some tips from microsoft to increase the likelihood of correct geocoding.

Make sure each field only has a single location category. For example, your City location field should be Southampton, not Southampton, New York. And Address location fields should be 1 Microsoft Way and not 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-map-tips-and-tricks

When you are working with countries or regions, use the three-letter abbreviation to ensure that geocoding works properly. Do not use two-letter abbreviations because some countries or regions might not be properly recognized.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/visuals-in-power-bi/5-map-visualizations

https://blog.ailon.org/how-to-display-2-letter-country-data-on-a-power-bi-map-85fc738497d6#.yudauacx...

Regards,

Marcus

Dortmund - Germany
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[PaulDBrown]

@mwegener 

Thanks Marcus for the pontiers. What I cannot still get to grips with is the fact that Desktop delivers the correct location but once published to the service the location is rendered differently.

I am now investigating ways to batch convert/identify Lat-Long coordinates from a list. I cannot afford to sell a hit-and -miss solution to clients, especially since I cannot understand ways to make the map location reliable. The addresses I'm using in this particular case are downloaded from the web, and if there isn't a "fool-proof" solution to geo - location using the addresses then I need to find a better alternative. 

In my eyes, the fact that both Desktop and the web Bing map services deliver the correct location (using the exact same input), whereas PBI service doesn't is a HUGE bug, making the visualisation totally unreliable.

[mwegener]

Hi @PaulDBrown ,

please create a support ticket to report the problem.

https://www.fourmoo.com/2019/09/24/using-power-bi-support-to-create-a-support-ticket/

Regards,

Marcus

Dortmund - Germany
If I answered your question, please mark my post as solution, this will also help others.
Please give Kudos for support.

[PaulDBrown · Accepted solution]

@mwegener 

Hi Marcus, 

Just as a follow up on this issue, and for the benefit of others who may be encountering similar inconsistencies, I came across Christos Samaras' blog in which he offers a VBA script for Excel which auto-magically gets the coordinates (latitude and longitude) for any address through Google's geocoding service (free up to 2,500 requests a day). The process does require users to set up an account in Google's Cloud Platform. 

Basically once you have the VBA script running in a workbook, + a couple of other settings which are described in the text/notes within the script itself, you can have a column of addresses in a sheet within the workbook and run the functions in adjacent columns to obtain the coordinates for each address.

I have tried it out and it works beautifully!

His blog is here

It would be great if Microsoft offered something similar with a BING API.