A filled map<\/b><\/strong>, also called a choropleth map, shades entire geographic areas, such as countries, states, or postal codes, based on a data value. The darker or more saturated the shading, the higher the value for that area. It is built to answer one question at a glance. Where is this number highest, and where is it lowest, across a region.<\/p>\n Power BI offers two closely related map visuals, and the difference is what they plot. A filled map shades whole areas and boundaries, so it fits data that is naturally tied to a defined region, such as sales by state or population by country. A bubble map plots specific points instead, using dot size and color to represent a value at an exact location, such as individual store locations or event coordinates. If your data describes a region as a whole, use a filled map. If it describes individual points within a region, use a bubble map.<\/p>\n A filled map needs a field that names a real geographic area, such as country, state, city, or postal code. Power BI sends that field to Bing Maps to look up the boundary shape for each value, a process called geocoding, so the accuracy of your map depends entirely on how clearly that field identifies a real place.<\/p>\n In the Visualizations<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0pane, click the Filled Map icon. This adds an empty filled map visual to the report canvas.<\/p>\n Drag your geographic field, such as country, state, or city, into the Location<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0section. Power BI geocodes each value and shades the matching area on the map.<\/p>\n Drag the number you want to measure, such as sales or profit, into the Color saturation<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0section. This is what decides how light or dark each area’s shading is.<\/p>\n You can also add a field to Legend<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0if you want a categorical split rather than a shaded gradient, and a field to Tooltips<\/b><\/strong>\u00a0so hovering over any area shows extra detail, such as exact profit figures for that state.<\/p>\n Click the Format icon to open the Format pane, then look under Data colors. For a single measure, Power BI defaults to a gradient between a minimum and maximum color, light for low values and dark for high values, which works well for continuous data such as sales or population. If your data is categorical instead, such as region type or status, use the Legend field to assign a distinct color per category rather than a gradient, since a gradient implies an order that categorical data does not actually have.<\/p>\n Microsoft has been encouraging a move toward the newer Azure Maps visual, and existing filled maps may eventually be prompted to upgrade. The steps above still apply to the classic filled map available today, but it is worth keeping an eye on this if you are building reports meant to stay unchanged for a long time.<\/p>\nFilled Map Compared to Bubble Map<\/h2>\n
Getting Your Location Data Right<\/h2>\n
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Building a Filled Map<\/h2>\n
Choosing the Right Color Scaling<\/h2>\n
When to Use a Filled Map?<\/h2>\n
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Common Mistakes to Avoid<\/h2>\n
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A Note on Where This Visual Is Heading<\/h2>\n