GeoSpatial Visuals
In this exercise we will add some Geospatial (Map) visuals.
Click the + sign beside the report page tabs and add another report page. By now you should remember how to right-click the new tab and rename it to Maps
Select the Filled map visual from the VISUALIZATIONS pane and click on the StateProvinceName in the Cities table in the FIELDS well to add this to the Location in the visual
Resize the map to occupy the left half of the canvas. Now select the Total Including Tax field from the OrderDetails table. This will add this value to the Tooltips.
You can now hover over your map and see the tooltip values changing for each State
Having just one colour is no good, so lets add some formatting. Click on the Format paint roller icon and expand the Data colors section.
- Click the fx symbol beside the default colour
- Type total into the search box and select the Total Including Tax measure
- Select the Diverging check box and click OK
The chart now shows coours ranging from red (lower sales) to green (higher sales). Zoom in for a closer look!
- Click the fx symbol beside the default colour
Let’s try a different view… With the map chart selected, CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy the visual onto the same page.
- Move the new map over to the right so that you can see both maps.
- With the new map selected change the visual to a Shape map in the VISUALIZATIONS pane
- Move the visual to the right hand side of the screen and click on the Format paint roller icon
- Select the Data Colors settings and set Diverging to On
Notice how the options are different to the conditional formatting we did on the Filled Map.
- Move the new map over to the right so that you can see both maps.
Click Texas on the right hand Shape Map and notice how the Filled Map zooms in on Texas.
This is how any cross-filtering (using other visuals or slicers) will behave if the map is set to Auto Zoom.
Shape maps are available for Australian States, Post Codes and Local Government Areas.
Maps can be downloaded from www.abs.gov.au
You can select Australia:states from the Map dropdown in the Shape formatting section, then + Add Map from your downloaded file.
Unlike the Map visual, Shape Map can’t show precise geographical locations of data points on a map. Instead, its main purpose is to show relative comparisons of regions on a map by coloring them differently.