Power BI - Questions & Answers | Business Analytics & Intelligence | Processes & Tools | Part 6

What is the difference between a heat map and a filled map in Power BI?

Suggested Answer:

Difference Between a Heat Map and a Filled Map in Power BI

Both visualizations represent geographic data but serve distinct purposes.

1. Heat Map

Purpose: Visualizes density/intensity of data points using color gradients.

How It Works:

• Represents individual data points (e.g., cities, stores) as colored circles.
• Color intensity (e.g., light to dark) or size indicates magnitude (e.g., sales, population).
• No geographic boundaries—just points on a map.

Use Cases:

• Show clusters of high/low activity (e.g., sales hotspots, crime incidents).
• Compare relative values across locations.

Example: A map with red (high sales) to blue (low sales) circles for each store.

Power BI Setup:

• Use the "Map" visual (not "Filled Map").
• Drag:
• Location (e.g., city, latitude/longitude) to the "Location" field.
• Metric (e.g., sales) to the "Size" or "Color saturation" field.

2. Filled Map (Choropleth Map)

Purpose: Shows aggregated values by region (e.g., countries, states) using shaded areas.

How It Works:

• Colors entire geographic regions (e.g., states, counties) based on a metric.
• Uses gradient shading (e.g., light green = low, dark green = high).

Use Cases:

• Compare performance across administrative regions (e.g., revenue by state).
• Highlight regional patterns (e.g., election results, disease rates).

Example: A U.S. map where California is dark blue (high GDP) and Wyoming is light blue (low GDP).

Power BI Setup:

• Use the "Filled Map" visual.
• Drag:
• Region (e.g., country, postal code) to the "Location" field.
• Metric (e.g., profit) to the "Color saturation" field.

Key Differences

When to Use Which

Heat Map: Analyze point-based data (e.g., delivery locations, traffic accidents).

Filled Map: Compare predefined regions (e.g., sales by country, policy coverage by state).

Pro Tip:

• Use tooltips in both to show details on hover (e.g., exact values, additional metrics).
• For hierarchical data (e.g., drill down from country to city), combine with drill-through.