Power BI Maps Demystified: Visualising Location Data with Confidence

Mapping data in Power BI can feel like a wall of jargon—vector vs raster, Shapefile vs GeoJSON, WKT, choropleths, heatmaps—yet the payoff is huge when you can reliably deliver location-driven insight.

In this demo filled session, you’ll get a practical introduction to visualising location data in Power BI. We’ll start by demystifying essential geospatial concepts and how they translate into real business intelligence scenarios. Next, we’ll cover common geographic file formats—Shapefile, GeoJSON, and KML—and the supporting toolkit (QGIS and mapshaper) to simplify, clean, and style mapping layers for use in Power BI.

Then we’ll walk through how to prepare and model location data in Power BI so it performs well and behaves correctly under filtering, drill, and zoom. With the foundations in place, we’ll build map examples using Azure Maps, ArcGIS, and Icon Map Pro—covering points, boundaries, and reference/background layers—to create clear visual stories, not just pretty maps.

Who it’s for: Power BI developers and analysts (beginner–intermediate).

You will learn how to:
• Choose the right geospatial format and prepare mapping data
• Model location data for fast, reliable map visuals
• Build maps that communicate insight with clarity

• Choose the right geospatial format and prepare mapping data • Model location data for fast, reliable map visuals • Build maps that communicate insight with clarity