The Power of WKT in Icon Map

Working across the environmental industry – it’s fair to say that pretty much ALL of DiscoverEI’s Power BI reports have a map! And if you thought that MapBox was good, well you’re going to LOVE the Icon Map custom visual in Power BI – which allows you to display interactive polygons, points, lines and of course – icons, all in the one visual…plus so much more!

In this video blog we walk through how to take Icon Map to the next level by incorporating WKT to plot custom points, lines and polygons, including a quick overview of how to convert your spatial files to WKT in QGIS. A big shoutout and thanks to James Dales for creating this awesome visual!! James is always making updates and enhancements to the visual so the best place to get the latest version and some helpful instructions and tips on how to use it is from his dedicated website: https://icon-map.com/index.html. And while you’re there remember to shout James a coffee or 10 to say thanks for creating such a fantastic mapping visual 😀

🎦 Watch the video blog here 🎦

If you’re keen to learn more about how you can create your own Icon Maps in Power BI, then be sure to check out our Icon Map video blogs where we’ll be exploring real-world applications, creating a simple Icon Map, creating an icon Map using custom WKT and integrating MapBox and Icon Map to design custom base-maps.

Have fun creating your own Icon Maps and thanks for watching!

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Blog

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Tips and tricks to simply your spatial files using QGIS and MapShaper for mapping in Icon Map in Power BI

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Displaying very detailed spatial files using WKT in the Icon Map comes with it’s challenges – the biggest being poor performance (i.e. very slow to render). Some simplification and reduction of precision can go a long way In this video blog I walk through some of my tips to simplify and reduce precision of your spatial files (using free tools such as QGIS and Map Shaper) BEFORE importing into Power BI as a WKT file to really improve rendering speed and avoid exceeding the 32,766 text character limit in Power Query. I hope this helps you have fun exploring maps in Power BI.

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Processing detailed WKT polygons for Icon Map: Power Query and DAX magic to exceed the 32,766 text character limit in Power BI

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Sometimes we want to display highly detailed spatial files in Power BI using WKT text strings in the Icon Map custom visual… BUT Power Query has a text character limit of 32,766 characters per data point - so what can we do?!? In this video blog I walk through some Power Query and DAX magic to split up our WKT text string and then stitch it back together using CONCATENATEX. I also go over a very frustrating ‘gotcha’ where Power BI removes the lagging spaces in our text string on import (which causes errors in our WKT file) and how to resolve it. I hope this helps you have fun exploring maps in Power BI.

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How to add MapBox Basemaps to Icon Map

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In this short video blog we walk through how to create custom basemaps in MapBox and integrate them into your Icon Map in Power BI! We then take it to the next level by configuring dynamic basemaps which we can change using slicers. A big shoutout and thanks to James Dales for creating this awesome visual!!

Power BI, Mapping, Icon Map

The Power of WKT in Icon Map

Power BI, Mapping, Icon Map

In this short video blog we walk through how to take Icon Map to the next level by incorporating WKT to plot custom points, lines and polygons, including a quick overview of how to convert your spatial files to WKT in QGIS. A big shoutout and thanks to James Dales for creating this awesome visual!!

Power BI, Mapping, Icon Map

My first Icon Map in Power BI

Power BI, Mapping, Icon Map

Icon Map is hands down my favourite mapping visual for Power BI! In this short video I walk through how to get started creating your very first map with custom icons. A big shoutout and thanks to James Dales for creating this awesome visual!!

Power BI, Mapping, Icon Map

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Power BI, Mapping, Icon MapAlice DrummondFebruary 3, 2022Discover EIEnvironmental, Icon MapComment

The Power of WKT in Icon Map

Have fun creating your own Icon Maps and thanks for watching!

Power BI Training Courses

If you’re interested in learning from our team, then we have a range of 2-day Power BI training courses available to fast-track your Power BI journey.

Click on the links below to learn more, and get in touch with the team today!

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