Using Azure Maps Power BI Visualizations for Compelling Stories

Your business knows Azure Maps as a leader in the world of mapping platforms. A part of what makes our product so successful is how well it integrates with other programs and APIs. An integration you’ll want to learn and use with Azure Maps is Power BI. 

But what is Power BI, and what makes using it with Azure Maps such a beneficial combination? Let the experts at Azure Maps show you everything these incredible tools offer.

What Is Power BI?

Power BI is a Microsoft platform for better business intelligence. This platform enables your business to seamlessly infuse visual information into familiar apps and programs. The main goal of Power BI is to bridge the gap between business data and decision-making.

Power BI provides end-to-end data protection, superior integrations with Azure Maps, and a fast-growing free library of over 500 data connectors. This platform offers connection capabilities with Azure SQL, Salesforce, SharePoint, Excel, and Dynamics 365.

Combining Power BI and Azure Maps enables developers and analysts to create compelling visual stories.

Key benefits of using Power BI with Azure Maps include:

• Easy to understand Power BI map visualizations
• Many connections for easy data importing
• A wide range of customization options

How to Start Using Azure Maps and Power BI

Getting started with Power BI and Azure Maps is easy. Here’s how to connect Azure Maps from Power BI:

• Open Azure Maps
• Click the Visualizations pane
• Find and select the Azure Maps icon (pictured below)

• Confirm that you see an empty Azure Maps design canvas (pictured below)

• Move latitude and longitude coordinates to either the Latitude or Longitude buckets. Or drag geospatial data into the Location bucket.
• You’re now ready to begin using the many compelling visual tools Power BI and Azure Maps offer, which we’ll explain more about in a section below.

Azure Maps with Power BI for Map Visualizations

With everything set up properly, it’s now time to learn the main features of Power BI when used with Azure Maps. Here’s more information about what you can do when using these two powerful tools.

Using a Variety of Colors

You can make great visualizations by using a wide range of available colors from the Power BI interface. Adding colors to your newly created Power BI map visualizations can help indicate whether data has a low or high value. Companies also use Power BI’s colors to visualize everything from sales figures to temperatures.

Many of our clients enjoy the ability to add colored bubbles to their presentations. When we refer to bubbles, we mean presenting data in easy-to-understand circular icons.

You only need to find Power BI’s Legend bucket in this platform’s Fields pane. Once your data is ready, choosing color differences can instantly upgrade any presentation. Instead of looking at a lot of numbers, color-based Power BI data visualizations also make presentations easy for anyone to follow.

Choosing Styles

You can also create engaging visuals using one of Azure Maps and Power BI’s Style options. Available options include:

• Blank and blank accessible
• Grayscale dark
• Grayscale light
• High-contrast dark
• High contrast light
• Night
• Road
• Road shaded relief
• Satellite
• Satellite road

No matter which style option you choose, each one adds instant visual elements to your datasets.

Adding or Hiding Labels

When using Power BI simultaneously with Azure Maps, you can also control how you use data and map labels. Under the Style section in Power BI, you can choose whether or not to have labels added or hidden. Using labels helps provide additional information. However, hiding labels might work better to enhance your visuals.

Power BI Map Visualization Examples

It can also be helpful to gain inspiration from example scenarios. Here’s a list of ways companies worldwide combine Azure Maps with Power BI for stellar results:

• Analyzing the sales performance of retail locations within a certain area
• Tracking fleet locations and shipments in real-time
• Monitoring a potential disease outbreak
• Understanding where fraudulent transactions occur
• Uncovering property-related trends in the housing market
• Displaying a vicinity’s attractions, restaurants, and hotels
• Viewing real-time locations of field technicians and their assignments
• Visualizing crime-related data while seeing the location of nearby police stations

In conclusion, combining Azure Maps with Power BI for map visualization creates compelling visuals. These two platforms let you use cutting-edge geospatial and data visualization technology in one powerful package. To get started, check out the following Microsoft Learn article Get started with Azure Maps Power BI visual - Microsoft Azure Maps.

Do you want to learn more about what your business can do with Azure Maps? Speak with one of our experts today.