Creating a point map
Follow the steps below to add points to the marker points layer of the map. Note that the three ways of adding points (via coordinates, postcodes, or UPRNs) are mutually exclusive; you can only use one at once.
Adding points on a map using Longitude / Latitude or Eastings / Northings
If your data has a list of Longitude / Latitude or Eastings / Northings, then you’re able to plot these on a map by simply dragging and dropping the relevant columns in your data into the Points: X and Points: Y fields of the visual.
Displaying longitude / latitude data on a map
The visual can display up to 30 000 individual points on the map.
To see any errors, turn on the 'Show more detailed messaging' toggle under Format visual > Map Settings in the Visualizations pane.
If the fields won’t populate with your data, make sure that on Table View the data type for your longitude / latitude data is set to Decimal number and NOT Text.
The visual determines whether the coordinates received are latitude/longitude or easting/northing based on the range of the numbers - it does not receive any additional coordinate system information, so it cannot recognise coordinates in other reference systems such as UTM.
Adding points on a map using UPRNs or Postcodes
If your data has a list of postcodes or UPRNs (unique property reference numbers), then you’re able to plot these on a map by simply dragging and dropping the relevant column in your data into the Points: Postcodes or UPRNs field of the visual.
Displaying point data on a map
Postcodes are plotted according to their corresponding centroid.
The visual can display up to 30 000 individual points on the map.
Please note, if points appear on the same location, Points: pop-ups will have to be populated with a data attribute that splits out the points (see 'Adding clickable point pop-ups' on the Creating a point map using categorical data page).
Good to know
In order to retrieve locations for postcodes or UPRNs, the values you add to this field will be sent out of the visual to our geocoding service
The values are checked first to make sure they fit the format of a UK postcode or UPRN. Any data mistakenly added to this field that doesn't match the format won't be sent out of the visual
Once retrieved the locations are cached in the report and won't be re-requested by that copy of the visual
Missing UPRN or postcode points
If you have incorrect or out-of-date postcodes and UPRNs in your data, they won’t geocode as points on the map. Clicking on the notification panel (the bell icon in the bottom left of the Power BI UI) will let you know which UPRNs or postcodes failed to geocode and are incorrect.
More detailed information, such as how many postcodes / UPRNs the visual attempted to geocode and how many succeeded, can be found by clicking on the notification panel after turning on the 'Show more detailed messaging' toggle found under Format visual > Map Settings in the Visualizations pane.
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