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Map Layout in Tableau Next
Use the Map layout to understand how your data varies by location. Choose point maps to show specific locations or choropleth maps to compare values across geographic areas.
Required Editions
| View supported editions. |
| Map Type | Use It To... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Point map | Show individual locations and identify areas with higher concentrations of data. | Show sales by city. |
| Choropleth map | Compare values across defined geographic areas using color. | Compare profit across states to identify geographic patterns and outliers. |
Geographic Roles
Tableau Next maps a field’s values based on its assigned geographic role, such as
Country, State, County, or City. A geographic role identifies the type of location
represented by a field. The Show Me pane refers to this field type as a geo-dimension. When
you map a field such as City or State, make sure it has the corresponding geographic role.
In the Data pane, the 
data type icon identifies fields with an assigned geographic role.
Create a Point Map to Compare Values Across Locations
In Tableau Next, you can visualize how values vary across geographic locations. Identify trends based on geography, such as areas with higher and lower business activity. Use encodings like size and color to emphasize differences across locations and make comparisons clearer. For example, visualize how sales vary across locations to assess market distribution. Then color locations based on binned sales ranges to compare markets more easily.
Required Editions
| View supported editions. |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To create Tableau Next visualizations: | Tableau Unmetered Platform Analyst or Tableau Next Platform Analyst permission set |
To enable Maps in Tableau Next, from Setup, enter Tableau Next Features in the Quick Find box and select it. Under Maps, enable Use Maps in Tableau Next.
-
From the Show Me pane in your visualization, click the
thumbnail.
The layout changes to Map, and the Show Me pane shows the required field for the map type: a geo-dimension field on Locations. You can also add a measure to Size to emphasize differences across locations and a field to Color to group locations by value. -
If you’re using a field that contains location names, assign it a geographic role if it
doesn’t already have one. For this example, assign the City role to
the City field.
- From the City field's context menu, select Edit Properties.
- From the Data Type menu, select Geographic Role.
- Select City.
- Click Apply.
If you don’t have access to edit the field properties, contact the semantic model owner.
-
From the Data pane, drag the geo-dimension field, such as City, onto
Locations.
Alternatively, if your data includes latitude and longitude fields, click + Add Location, enter a location name, and select the latitude and longitude fields.
- Optionally, to emphasize differences in sales across locations, drag Sales onto Size.
- Based on the selected sizing mode, set the minimum and maximum sizes using percentages or pixels.
- Optionally, use color encoding to group locations by sales range. Drag Sales Segment onto Color.
- Apply your changes.
Create a Choropleth Map to Compare Values Across Geographic Areas
In Tableau Next, use choropleth maps to reveal regional patterns at a glance by comparing values across geographic areas, such as countries, states, and cities. Color-coded areas make hotspots and outliers easy to identify. For example, compare profit across states to quickly see where profit is unusually high or low.
Required Editions
| View supported editions. |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To create Tableau Next visualizations: | Tableau Unmetered Platform Analyst or Tableau Next Platform Analyst permission set |
To enable Maps in Tableau Next, from Setup, enter Tableau Next Features in the Quick Find box and select it. Under Maps, enable Use Maps in Tableau Next.
-
From the Show Me pane in your visualization, click the
thumbnail.
The layout changes to Map. And, the Show Me pane shows you the minimum required fields for the map type: a geo-dimension field and one measure on Color. -
If you’re using a field that contains location names, assign it a geographic role if it
doesn’t already have one. For this example, use the State field and select the
State role.
- From the State field's context menu, select Edit Properties.
- From the Data Type menu, select Geographic Role.
- Select State.
- Click Apply.
If you don’t have access to edit the field properties, contact the semantic model owner.
- From the Data pane, drag the geo-dimension field, such as State, onto Locations.
- Optionally, drag another geographic field onto Locations to add another geographic level.
- To show differences in profit using color, drag Profit onto Color.
- Apply your changes.
