Azure maps not displaying mapped data points in publish to web when location used

[liel3]

A couple of days ago we noticed an issue with our Azure maps in reports published via public to web.

The map will load like below but without any data points mapped.

The only way to get it to load is to switch from using data such as postcodes or street addresses in the 'location' input, to using the 'latitude' and 'longitude' inputs instead.

I tried this on various devices and internet connections and kept getting the same issue.

We think this indicates an issue with publish to web reports not being able to lookup related mapping coordinates to the provided location field? As it always displays as expected in the desktop file and the app.powerbi.com workspace, even when using our location field input.

Some clarification of why this is happening, and whether it can be fixed would be helpful thanks.

I've created a public report that demonstrates the Bing vs Azure map for postcode location (1st page - Azure map doesn't work) and then using latitude/longitude for the Azure map (2nd page - works)
https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiYmFkNGI3MjItNmU2Yi00OGViLWI3N2MtMGRlMzY5MmQ1MWRiIiwidCI6IjM3Y...

[mattlee]

We are looking into this.

[josephws]

Same issue here. Guessing I need to geocode in Power Query then? https://www.icon-map.com/blog/geocoding-with-powerquery

[liel3]

Yeah we've had to move to adding latitude and longitude into our datasets, and then set them as 'latitude' and 'longitude' geo types to get the points to display in publish to web.

I haven't seen that API option before though, thanks for sharing. I don't think we have Azure Maps accounts though, so can't generate an API key.

[liel3]

Microsoft Copilot has recommended https://api.postcodes.io as an open source option to geocode from an API.

It's based on open Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Ordnance Survey data, and doesn't require an API key for authentication.

I was able to use the code below as a custom function to lookup the latitude/longitude in a similar way to in that blog post.

(postcode as text) =>
let
 CleanPostcode = Text.Replace(Text.Upper(Text.Trim(postcode)), " ", ""),
 Source =
  Json.Document(
    Web.Contents(
      "https://api.postcodes.io/postcodes/" & CleanPostcode
    )
  ),
Result = Source[result],
Output =
  if Result <> null then
    [
      Latitude = Result[latitude],
      Longitude = Result[longitude]
    ]
  else
    [
      Latitude = null,
      Longitude = null
    ]
in
Output

[josephws]

Thanks for this @liel3. The postcodes.io api seems limited to the UK. I went ahead and create an Azure Maps resource. The icon map approach I posted earlier was simple and quick. My points on my publish to web Azure maps are now working again. If Microsoft ends up fixing the process to allow geocoding locations from the visual itself, I'll switch back to that.

[liel3]

Thanks - yeah sorry should've mentioned it would be UK. There may be other free API ones out there for other countries that you could substitute in the code, or people can use the Azure Maps resource like you suggested. Hopefully Microsoft can get the location option fixed for publish to web soon, or at least make it clear to people if it's no longer an option.

[josephws]

Only issue w/ using the Azure Maps approach suggested by Icon Map is that it introduces a dynamic data source, so you won't be able to refresh your model on the service...

[josephws]

Only issue w/ using the Azure Maps approach suggested by Icon Map is that it introduces a dynamic data source, so you won't be able to refresh your model on the service...

[mattlee]

Hey folks, this is confirmed to be an issue with a new peformance improvement for Azure Map "pie markers", only in publish to web. We have a QFE staged for this week and it should complete in most regions by February 24th. This only impacts markers where you also have a Legend field, and only in Publish to Web (public embed).

[josephws]

Thanks for this update @mattlee. Will the QFE be in another release of PBI desktop, or in the service?