16.10.2025
Ataberk Teknekaya
Share thisNumbers tell stories, but location gives those stories context. With maps in Power BI, you can view your data from an entirely new perspective — literally. By plotting information geographically, it becomes easier to identify trends, uncover hidden patterns, and make confident, data-led decisions.
Power BI maps are visualization tools that display geographic data points on interactive maps. They help make relationships between location and key metrics visible, turning complex datasets into spatial insights.
Whether you’re tracking sales by region, mapping customer behavior, or monitoring operational metrics, maps transform raw data into clear, intuitive visuals that reveal context at a glance.
Would you like to take your data visualization to the next level? Our Analytics & BI consulting team specializes in helping businesses build powerful, insight-driven reporting solutions.
In this article, we'll explore:
- The various types of maps available in Power BI
- Native and marketplace map visuals
- Tips for creating interactive and insightful visualizations that bring data to life
Power BI's built-in map arsenal
Power BI comes equipped with several native map visuals, each designed for different visualization needs. These built-in options require no additional downloads and integrate seamlessly with your reports.
Basic map: your starting point
The standard map visual is the foundation for geographic visualization. It plots locations such as cities, states, countries, or exact coordinates using Bing Maps for geocoding.
Points can vary in size based on values or be color-coded by category — making it easy to see where things are happening and at what scale.
Filled maps: regional comparisons made visual
The filled map, also known as a choropleth, shades entire regions based on a value or category, making it ideal for comparing performance across areas.
Color gradients quickly highlight high- and low-performing regions, though the visual can occasionally struggle with geographic accuracy for certain boundaries, such as states or counties.
Shape maps: custom geographic regions
For even more customization, the shape map allows you to define your own boundaries using TopoJSON files. This makes it useful for highly granular data such as districts or privately owned areas, and it often serves as a reliable alternative when filled maps misinterpret geographic data.
Note: Shape maps are still a preview feature and need to be enabled in the Power BI options menu.
ArcGIS maps: advanced geospatial features
The ArcGIS map is the most feature-rich of the native visuals, integrating Esri’s powerful geospatial analytics directly into Power BI.
It provides access to heatmaps, reference layers, drive-time analysis, and even public datasets, making it a go-to solution for users who need deep spatial insights.
Expanding your options: marketplace maps
Beyond the built-in visuals, Power BI’s marketplace offers community-developed and vendor-provided extensions that further extend mapping capabilities.
Custom visuals from the Power BI Marketplace extend the standard functionality with specialized visualization types, such as Icon Map or Synoptic Panel. They enable users to tailor maps to specific business needs and create domain-focused data visualizations.
Icon Map: the Swiss Army knife of map visuals
Icon Map is one of the most flexible and popular custom visuals in the marketplace. It combines all the functionality of the native visuals and adds even more: you can use custom icons, shapes, and images for your data points.
It also supports OpenStreetMap and Mapbox tiles and can display routes and paths directly on the map. This versatility makes Icon Map valuable across industries such as retail, logistics, and telecommunications.
Synoptic Panel: maps beyond geography
Instead of a traditional map, Synoptic Panel enables data to be displayed on top of custom images or diagrams.
Using its companion tool, Synoptic Designer, you can overlay interactive layers on floor plans, store layouts, or process diagrams.
This makes it a powerful option for visualizing spatial relationships — even when the data isn’t geographic in nature.
Best practices for map visualizations
- Always categorize geographic fields so Power BI can interpret them correctly.
- Use latitude and longitude whenever possible to reduce ambiguity.
- Concatenate fields such as city and country, or use ISO codes, to prevent mapping errors.
- Be cautious with high-cardinality latitude/longitude data, as it can significantly increase file size.
- Apply filters to set default views and improve rendering speed on large datasets.
- Simplify TopoJSON geometries for Shape or Icon Maps to improve performance; tools like Mapshaper are particularly useful.
The bottom line
Maps in Power BI bridge the gap between numbers and real-world context. They move beyond charts and tables, bringing geography into the heart of your analysis.
Whether you rely on the simplicity of native visuals, explore the advanced capabilities of ArcGIS, or take advantage of marketplace options like Icon Map and Synoptic Panel, the right map can make insights instantly clear.
By applying best practices, ensuring accuracy, reducing ambiguity, and optimizing performance, you can build maps that are not only visually engaging but also genuinely useful for decision-making.
Ultimately, it’s about enabling your data to tell its story — with location as the key to deeper understanding.
Our Power BI experts are here to help you bring your data to life.
Whether you're just getting started with Power BI maps or looking to elevate your existing dashboards, the right visual can unlock insights that tables and charts simply can't reveal. At FELD M, we help organizations design data visualizations that drive real business decisions – from interactive maps to comprehensive BI strategies.
Our specialists are ready to help you choose the right mapping approach for your needs and build dashboards that tell your data's story effectively. Get in touch to learn more!