Unlocking the Power of Maps in Power BI: How Bing Resolves City Names with World Cities Database
Creating insightful, interactive maps in Power BI can transform dry data into engaging, easy-to-understand visual stories. A challenge that often arises, however, is accurately mapping city names due to variations in spelling, aliases, or the existence of multiple cities with the same name across the globe. This is where the integration of Bing Maps and the Google Maps Geolocation API into Power BI becomes immensely valuable. This article will walk you through how Bing resolves city names with the World Cities Database and how you can enhance this process with the Google Maps Geolocation API for more precise data visualization in Power BI.
The Role of Bing Maps in Power BI
Bing Maps is integrated natively within Power BI, providing geospatial mapping capabilities that can transform geographical data into rich, interactive maps. When you input city names or other geographic identifiers into a Power BI map visualization, Bing Maps attempts to resolve these names by matching them against its extensive World Cities Database. This database is a composite of official geographic information sourced from around the globe, which helps in accurately pinpointing locations on the map.
Despite Bing's robust database, there are instances when city names can be tricky due to the reasons mentioned earlier. In these cases, a more precise tool can enhance the accuracy of your data visualizations.
Enhancing Mapping Accuracy with Google Maps Geolocation API
The Google Maps Geolocation API offers a powerful supplement to Bing's capabilities within Power BI. By fetching latitude and longitude coordinates for city names programmatically, it can overcome the challenges of ambiguous city names, ensuring that your visualizations are as accurate as possible.
Step 1: Creating Google Developer Console Credentials
To begin using the Google Maps Geolocation API, you must first generate credentials through the Google Developer Console. This involves creating a project and enabling the Geolocation API for it. Once enabled, Google will provide you with an API key that is used to authenticate your requests to the Geolocation API.
Step 2: Managing API Usage
It's important to note that the free tier of the Google Maps Geolocation API is limited to 2,500 queries per day. To manage this limitation effectively, ensure that you do not query coordinates for the same city more than once. Storing the results of your queries in a database or a Power BI data model can help in avoiding unnecessary repetitions.
Step 3: Integrating with Power BI through Power Query
Integrating the Google Maps Geolocation API into Power BI is straightforward with Power Query. You can create a custom function to fetch latitude and longitude coordinates for your city names and then use these coordinates to enhance the accuracy of your maps in Power BI.
let
GetCoordinates = (CityName as text) =>
let
Source = Json.Document(Web.Contents("https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/geocode/json?address=" & CityName & "&key=YOUR_API_KEY")),
Results = Source[results],
Coordinates = Results{0}[geometry][location],
Lat = Coordinates["lat"],
Lon = Coordinates["lng"]
in
{Lat, Lon}
in
GetCoordinates
Replace YOUR_API_KEY
with your actual API key. This function allows you to pass a city name and receive back a record containing the latitude and longitude.
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Paginating Your Power Query Function
Given the query limitation, creating a paginated function in Power Query that dynamically adjusts based on your data set size and API limitations is critical. This function would essentially batch process your data, ensuring you stay within the free tier limit while processing all required geolocations.
Conclusion
The combination of Bing Maps and the Google Maps Geolocation API in Power BI creates a powerful tool for producing accurate and visually appealing maps. By following the steps outlined above, you can enhance your Power BI maps' precision, making your data visualizations more impactful and insightful.
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