Bing Map retiring and privacy concerns surrounding migration to Azure Maps

[shekhar_shres]

Hi everyone,

With Bing Maps in Power BI being retired soon, many users are looking at Azure Maps as a replacement. A key concern is that data sent to Azure Maps can be processed outside your tenant’s geographic region, compliance boundary, or national cloud instance, which may create compliance or data residency challenges — especially for organizations in Australia.

I’m curious how other Aussie Power BI developers are handling this transition. Are you using alternative visuals?

Would love to hear about any strategies, workarounds, or best practices you’ve found.

Thank you

[v-ssriganesh]

Hello @shekhar_shres,

Hope everything’s going great with you. Just checking in has the issue been resolved or are you still running into problems? Sharing an update can really help others facing the same thing.

Thank you.

[v-ssriganesh]

Hi @shekhar_shres,

Thank you for posting your query in the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum, and thanks to @Zanqueta for sharing valuable insights.

Could you please confirm if your query has been resolved by the provided solutions? This would be helpful for other members who may encounter similar issues.

Thank you for being part of the Microsoft Fabric Community.

[Zanqueta · Accepted solution]

Hi @shekhar_shres,

This is an important topic, as the retirement of Bing Maps in Power BI and the migration to Azure Maps introduces compliance and data residency considerations.

Key Points About Azure Maps and Data Residency

• Azure Maps is a global service and does not currently support data residency guarantees within specific geographic regions or sovereign clouds (such as Azure Australia or Azure Government).
• When using Azure Maps in Power BI, geospatial data (coordinates, addresses) may be processed outside your tenant’s region, which can raise compliance issues for organisations with strict data sovereignty requirements.

My recommendation:

Minimise Sensitive Data Exposure

• Avoid sending raw addresses or personally identifiable information to Azure Maps.
• Pre-process data in Power Query:
  • Convert addresses to latitude/longitude internally using a compliant geocoding service.
  • Only send anonymised coordinates to the map visual.

Official Microsoft Guidance:

Get started with Azure Maps Power BI visual - Microsoft Azure Maps | Microsoft Learn

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