Lesson 36 - Filled Map in Power BI Desktop

In Power BI reports to gain deeper insights using the geographical data then we use filled maps feature. Filled map not only show data distribution across regions but it also helps in analyze patterns or trends. Let’s see how to create a filled map further in this blog.

How to Proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals  

Step 2

In “visualizations” pane click on “Filled Map” which is highlighted in the given figure. 

Step 3  

Drag the data fields into “Field Section” that you want to analyze.  

Location: Specifies information that defines geographic locations that includes city names, country/region names, Postal codes to be displayed on the map – Region.

Legend: Provides an explanation about the category used on the map. - Medal

Latitude and Longitude are the coordinates values which locate a specific location. Here we don’t have any coordinates value 

Tooltips: add more information to the visual- No of medals

Step 4

Customizing the appearance

You can customize the appearance of the Map visual. Click anywhere on the visual and set the properties in the Format section.

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

"Map Settings" options allows you to customize and configure various aspects of map visuals within your reports. 

The map settings include a "Style" option that enables users to choose the map type such as Road, Aerial, Dark, Light and Grayscale, along with “Controls" option that provides control over features like zoom, lasso selection, and auto zoom buttons with toggles for activation.

“Geocoding culture” allows you to specify the regional or cultural context for interpretation of data. It ensures accurate map labelling according to your chosen language-region preferences

Legend option enables you to customize the position, font style, and colour scheme of the legend displayed within the map visual

Fill colors we can customize specific color for the field used in the legend section.

Step 5 Save the visual

Finally, your Filled Map is ready. Click save button to save the visual.

When to use Filled Map visual?

Both Map and filled map visual are same the only differences is their type of representation and it differs based on the use cases. While map visual shows as specific data points whereas the filled map displays data using filled regions, instead of individual data points it uses shaded or colored region for the aggregated data.

You can use Filled Map visual for following scenarios

• When your dataset includes location-related data, such as latitude and longitude coordinates, city names, postal codes, or country names.
• When you need to compare data across different locations or regions, a map visual allows for quick and visual comparisons.
• To highlight the patterns or variations

Pros

• Maps are visually appealing and can make data presentations more interesting and informative.
• Maps offer users a straightforward grasp of the locations of events or data points.

Cons

• Map visuals are less effective when dealing with complex or dense datasets.
• Map visuals depend on the accuracy and completeness of the data for meaningful representation.

Conclusion

Filled Map in Power BI can be used when our analysis involves aggregated data at a higher geographical level and we want to showcase patterns and variations in a metric across different regions. It's an effective visualization technique for understanding the broader geographical context of our data.

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/power-bi-create-a-filled-map///
MS Learn Modules	Visualization types in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz

Lesson 35 - Map in Power BI Desktop

 A map visual is dynamic tool for visualizing data tied to specific locations. It converts location-based data into an interactive map, enabling users to explore and comprehend geographical patterns and trends, making data analysis more informative and engaging in reports and dashboards.

How to proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals

Step 2

In “visualizations” pane click on “Map” which is highlighted in the given figure.

Step 3

Drag the data fields into “Field Section” that you want to analyze.  

Location: Specifies information that defines geographic locations that includes city names, country/region names, Postal codes to be displayed on the map – Continents.

Legend: Provides an explanation about the category used on the map. - Gender

Bubble size: Size of the bubble defines the quantitative value associated with the specific location. – Number of Participants

Step 4

Customizing the appearance

You can customize the appearance of the Map visual. Click anywhere on the visual and set the properties in the Format section.

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

"Map Settings" options allows you to customize and configure various aspects of map visuals within your reports. 

The map settings include a "Style" option that enables users to choose the map type such as Road, Aerial, Dark, Light and Grayscale, along with “Controls" option that provides control over features like zoom, lasso selection, and auto zoom buttons with toggles for activation.

“Geocoding culture” allows you to specify the regional or cultural context for interpretation of data. It ensures accurate map labelling according to your chosen language-region preferences.

Legend option enables you to customize the position, font style, and color scheme of the legend displayed within the map visual.

Bubbles represents data points on the map, and it helps us to compare values associated with different locations.

Additionally, you are allowed to customize the size and color of the bubbles.

Category Labels consists of text or labels connected to specific categories or data points on the map. These labels help users in recognize and understand various geographic locations or regions being displayed on the map.

Step 5

Save the visual

Finally, your Map is ready. Click save button to save the visual.

When to use Map visual?

You can use Map visual for following scenarios.

• When your dataset includes location-related data, such as latitude and longitude coordinates, city names, postal codes, or country names.
• When you need to compare data across different locations or regions, a map visual allows for quick and visual comparisons.
• To showcase the spatial distribution of data points, like store locations, population density, or disease outbreaks, a map visual provides a clear and intuitive representation.

Pros

• Maps are visually appealing and can make data presentations more interesting and informative.
• Maps offer users a straightforward grasp of the locations of events or data points.

Cons

• Map visuals are less effective when dealing with complex or dense datasets.
• Map visuals depend on the accuracy and completeness of the data for meaningful representation.

Conclusion

Map visuals are like treasure map for your data. They provide a unique lens through which to explore and communicate location-based insights, making complex data more accessible and engaging. Whether you are examining sales across different regions or exploring any data with geographical relevance, the map chart offers an effective means to convey insights from location-based data.

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	Tips and Tricks for maps - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
MS Learn Modules	Visualization types in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz

Lesson 34 - Ribbon Chart in Power BI Desktop

Ribbon charts are one of the most powerful visualizations from which we can identify the highest rank of categorical data. It is more like a stacked column chart. Adding legends to the chart make ribbons join the chart by showing the high and low values using different colors.

How to Proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals 

Step 2

In “visualizations” pane click on “Ribbon chart” which is highlighted in the given figure.

Step 3

Drag the data fields into “Field Section” that you want to analyze.  

X-axis: Represents categories -Year

Y-axis: Represents numerical value that you want to display within each category- Participants

Legend: Explain the groups in categories - Continent

Step 4

Customizing the appearance

You can customize the appearance of the visual.  You can change Title, Font size, Style, Colours and Data labels. Click anywhere on the visual and set the below properties in the Format section.

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

Additionally in Ribbon chart we have options to change the color of the ribbons.

This improves clarity and helps viewers easily identify and understand the distinctions between level of ranking in categories

“Reverse order” option allows you to rearrange the order of data series easily. 

Connector color: We can also keep the ribbon color off by using option “Connector color”. Also, in this visual we fixed the ribbon transparency to 28%.

Border: To keep border to the ribbons, keep the Border toggle on.

Spacing: It represents the space between the ribbons

In Power BI, Cross filtering feature in ribbon chart allows you to focus on specific data points by interacting with other visuals on the report.

The space between the two bars in ribbon chart represents the change between the last category to current category with rank details in tooltip which makes users understand better

Step 5 Save the visual

Finally, your Ribbon chart is ready. Click save button to save the visual.

When to use Ribbon chart?

Ribbon chart can be used when we want to visualize flow between categories with trends along with its ranking. From the chart we can easily identify which data have highest rank

Pros

• It is more powerful in showing flow of data with rank which represent the clear representation of data
• It is well suited for displaying sequential categorical data
• We can compare the categories using this chart
• More interactive and visually appealing 

Cons

• Visual become more complex with a large number of categories in data
• Complex ribbon charts with large dataset impact the report performance

Conclusion

The ribbon chart is a valuable visualization tool in Power BI, offers unique advantages to display the flow and relationships between categorical dimensions 

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://www.tutorialgateway.org/create-a-ribbon-chart-in-power-bi/#google_vignette https://www.tutorialgateway.org/format-power-bi-ribbon-chart/
MS Learn Modules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-types-for-reports-and-q-and-a
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz

Lesson 33 - Waterfall chart in Power BI Desktop

Waterfall charts are best in visualizing changes in data over time, across categories, or to specifically look into major changes. It also shows positive and negative values against target values. It is also known as bridge chart.

In a waterfall chart, each change is represented by a column. These columns are color-coded to make it easy to see whether they represent increases or decreases in the value.

How to Proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals  

Step 2

In “Visualizations” pane click on “Waterfall chart” which is highlighted in the given figure. 

Step 3

Drag the data fields into “Field Section “that we want to compare and analyze. 

Category: Shows high-level segments we want to analyze-

Year

Breakdown: Shows detailed components that changes - Sport

Y-Axis: Represents medal count

Legend: It is used to label and describe the segments or slices

in the pie chart, helping viewers to understand what each part represents 

Step 4:

Filters in Power BI allows us to control and shape the data as per our needs. Here we are showing the page level filter where we can display only the data we want to show in reports or dashboards. By slicing and dicing the data we can gain insights from it.

Here, we used filters in sport (Top 4 sport by medal) and in Year (Year from 2000 to 2016).

Step 5:

Customizing the appearance of Waterfall chart

You can customize the appearance of the visual.  You can change Title, Font size, Style, Colours and Data labels. Click anywhere on the visual and set the below properties in the Format section.

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

In this visual, I chose background colour as blue and gave 87% transparency which reduces the intensity of the colour.

Give suitable title for the visual and customize the font size, colour and position of the title.

Chose Colours for the line to show different categories.

We can change the color of the columns in On the Visualizations > Format visual pane, select Columns 

We can set the category breakdown by clicking On the Visualizations > Format visual pane, select Breakdown, and set the Maximum breakdowns 

Here for this visual I set the breakdown value to 4

Sorting the chart: To sort based on specific field, click on the chart, click on three dots at the top right-hand side of the chart.

Step 6  Save the visual

 

Finally, your waterfall chart is ready. Click save button to save the visual. 

When to use waterfall chart?

Pros 

• Waterfall chart represent changes across time or different categories
• It helps on visualizing both positive and negative changes and understand the relationships between data points

Cons

• Waterfall chart is only suited for visualizing limited number of data points.
• Not suitable for all type of data.

Conclusion

Waterfall charts are a data visualization tool with both strengths and limitations. They are particularly useful for representing changes over time or categories. Waterfall charts can enhance data clarity, support decision-making, and provide a straightforward and powerful way to present information.

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/power-bi-waterfall-chart///
MS Learn Modules	Visualization types in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz

Lesson 32 - Gauge Visual in Power BI Desktop

Gauge visual is represented by circular arc like visual which shows progress of a certain value towards the target. Needle line represents the target value. The value showing in the middle of the gauge is the gained Value. Left and right side of the gauge represents Minimum and maximum value.

In this visual we are Tracking medals won with their target.

How to Proceed?

Step 1

Launch power BI desktop app and open the new report page and import the data required. 

Refer Lesson 7 - Power BI Datasets to build visuals  

Step 2

In “visualizations” pane click on “Gauge” which is highlighted in the given figure. 

Step 3

Drag the data fields into “Field Section” that you want to analyze.  

Values: Display the Progressed Value – Count of Medal

Minimum Value: Minimum medals won

Maximum Value: Maximum medals won

Target value: Add a goal – Average of Target

By default, in gauge, minimum value is set to 0 and maximum value is set to double the current value. Current value is set as halfway point on the gauge

We can set the minimum, maximum and target value based on the current value.

Here we are setting Minimum and maximum value based on the medals won, target is derived from the Medal Target table where we have predefined Target value.

In the above visual, we have slicers applied. For Canada region in the Year 1992, medal won was 80. Gauge Needle shows region met the Average target.

Manual options to set value

We can set maximum, minimum and target value manually in format visual options.

Step 4 Customizing the appearance 

Refer Lesson 6 - Formatting the visuals in Power BI Desktop

You can customize the color of the target and current value fill color. Conditional formatting of the fill color in the gauge can be customized by clicking fx icon

Data labels font, color, style of the values can be customized under formatting section.

Step 6 Save the visual

Finally, Gauge visual is ready. Click save button to save the visual. 

When to use Gauge visual?

Gauge visual can be used when we want to show progress of the metric value towards the target or when we want to display information in an easy quick way to understand.

Pros 

• Users can easily interpret and understand the data better.
• Interactive.
• Threshold visualization

Cons

• Not suitable for all types of metrics
• Only limited information can be given in chart
• Only single metric can be analyzed.

Conclusion

Gauge charts in Power BI are effective for highlighting single metrics, especially when you want to convey success or failure against predefined targets.

Tags	Power BI
Useful links	https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/power-bi-create-a-radial-gauge-chart/
MS Learn Modules	https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/visuals/power-bi-visualization-radial-gauge-charts?tabs=powerbi-desktop
Test Your Knowledge	Quiz