Choose Your MapLorenzo Vercellati

lvercellati@solidq.com

Sponsors

Lorenzo Vercellati

Power BI Solutions Architect @ SolidQ

SQL Saturday Speaker, Power BI Trainer

Working on Database since 2000, on SQL Server since 2007

PowerBI User Group Milan Administrator

Medieval History Graduate, Homebrewer

@supergimi

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzovercellati/

Agenda

Coming Soon…

• Prepare Your Data• Build a Strong Geography Dimension

• Clean Your Data

• Categorize Your Data

• Maps! Maps! Maps!

Prepare Your Data

Build a Strong Geography Dimension

Use Codes:• ISTAT Codes (M052, F704 instead of Vimercate or Monza)

• State or Province Codes (AN, NY, IDF instead of Ancona, New York, Ile-de-France)

• Country Codes (ITA, USA, MEX instead of Italy, United States, Mexico)

Descriptions depends on too many factors

… and ERRORS!

Demo

Build a Strong Geography Dimension

Build a multi-level Hierarchy

Asia <continent>Africa <continent>Europe <continent>North America <continent>

Canada <country>Mexico <country>United States of America <country>

New England <region>Midwest <region>California <region>

Sacramento Valley <region>Sierra Nevada <region>Bay Area <region>

Berkeley <city>Palo Alto <city>San Francisco <city>

Mission <district>Golden Gate <district>Castro-Noe Valley <district>

Build a Strong Geography Dimension

Use Latitude and Longitude as soon as possible

Categorize Your Data

1

2

3

4

Help Bing doing its work!

Maps! Maps! Maps!

Out of the Box vs. Custom

Out of the Box

Out of the box

Filled Map Shape MapArcGIS MapsMap

Map with R

Map

• Categorize your data to help Bing Service

• Use combination of Location field and Longitude and Latitude with drill down for good results

Demo

Filled Map

• Great for US geographies

• Not so great outside of US

Shape Map

• A shape map is a visual built to show comparisons of regions on a map by applying different colors to each region.

• It is based on shapefile, a storage format developed by Esri, nowadays universally recognized as standard for storing geospatial information.

• A shapefile format spatially describes vector features: points, lines, polygons. It is therefore commonly used to represent geometric locations for data and its attributes

Shape Map

• Enabled in Preview Features

• Use mapshaper.org to convert to TopoJSON

• If necessary, update manually your TopoJSON

Custom Shape Map

0

12

3

4

5

6

7

8

910

11

12

13

14 15

1617

20

21

2223

24

25

2627

28

3031

3334

3536

37

3839

40

41

4243

44

45

4647

49

51

52

53

54

8078

79

85

76

77

86

You can create your custom shape map and use it in Power

BI

You have to edit a topojson file, that generates the map

You can edit directly topojson file

You can use an online converter

Topojson is a subtype of geojson file type

Topojson structure consists in:

A list of arcs

A list of object with references to a sequence of contiguous

arcs

Custom Shape MapArcs are defined by an entry point and a sequence of

point.

Arcs have a defined direction

Object defined by arcs with reverse direction are

referenced by –arcs + 1

76

-77

An object can be a Polygon or a MultiPolygon

Every Polygon is defined by a set of contiguous arcs.

0

12

3

4

5

6

7

8

910

11

12

13

14 15

1617

20

21

2223

24

25

2627

28

3031

3334

3536

37

3839

40

41

4243

44

45

4647

49

51

52

53

54

8078

79

85

76

77

86

Demo

ArcGIS Maps

• A GIS (Geographic Information System) is a computer-based tool that analyzes, stores, manipulates and visualizes geographic information on a map.

• ArcGIS is the software developed by Esri, for creating and using maps, performing spatial analysis, sharing and discovering geographic information.

ArcGIS Maps

• Circles, Cluster, Heatmap

• Limit on points

• No drilldown

• Built in reference layers and infographics for US only

• Premium subscription for additional features

Demo

Maps with R

• R is the most common open source language for statistical computing and graphics.

• R provides a wide variety of statistical and graphical techniques

Maps with R

• R scripts are fully supported in Power BI, offering the way to perform analytical and statistical analysis and to create compelling visuals. The integration of R in PowerBI grants access to a rich array of data visualizations not present in the standard PowerBI set.

• R is shipped with a huge number of packages for spatial data analysis and plotting. Many sort of maps (choropleths, map projections, topological maps, animated maps, …) and sketch options are available with R.

Map with R

• R Engine

• R packages (ggplot2, maps)

• R knowledge

Demo

Is There Anybody Out There?

Custom Maps from Marketplace

Globe Data Bars Globe Map Drilldown Choropleth

Drilldown Cartogram

Mapbox Icon Map

…and Others more!

Flow Map

Mapbox

• Requires access token

• Shows large number of points

• Multiple background layers, including custom

• Cluster, Heatmap, Circles & Choropleth

• Need to aggregate data manually

Demo

Flow Map

• Shows routes or flows between points

• Straight lines, great circle or flows

• Longitude and latidude or geocoding

Demo

Icon Map

• Open Streetmap, Mapbox, Thunderforest & openweathermap layers

• Circles, lines and icons

Demo

Drilldown Choropleth

• Custom shapes required in TopoJSON and hosted externally

Drilldown Cartogram

• Custom shapes required in TopoJSON and hosted externally

Synoptic Panel

• https://synoptic.design/

• Time-intensive compared to other Power BI map options

• Some templates available in the Synoptic gallery

• Fully customized areas for any image

Globe Map

• Good for storytelling

• Not so good for analysis

Globe Data Bars

• No longer working

Links on the Road

Maps

• https://mapshaper.org/

• https://christopherfinlan.com/category/datazen/maps/

• http://dataveld.com/2016/09/12/topojson-map-files-for-power-bi-shape-map/

• https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/esri-plus-subscription-for-arcgis-maps-for-power-bi-is-now-available/?cdn=disable

• https://github.com/deldersveld/topojson

• http://dataveld.com/2016/09/01/overcoming-potential-power-bi-shape-map-rendering-issues/

TopoJson

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoJSON

• https://macwright.org/2015/03/23/geojson-second-bite.html

• http://geoexamples.com/d3/2015/09/25/d3-EUROSTAT-topojson.html

• https://blog.mapbox.com/the-fastest-maps-in-microsoft-power-bi-4fc81b7ef890

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

• https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-maps-for-power-bi/overview

…and more!

“To put a city in a book, to put the world on one sheet of paper: maps are the most condensed humanized spaces of all...They make the landscape fit indoors, make us masters of sights we can't see and spaces we can't cover.”

-Robert Harbison

Q&A

Grazie!