There are several reasons why your Tableau map is not displaying – probably;
You’ve assigned the wrong geographical role or
Used the wrong location
The two, would likely be the most common reasons your map is not displaying. How do you recognize and fix it?
How do we plot maps?
We plot maps using geographic fields. A field is recognized as a geographic field in Tableau by assigning it a geographic role. These geographic fields can instantly be spotted using the globe icon right before the field name.
(Examples of geographic fields)
We plot maps by dragging the geographic fields to the detail shelf. In this case, have dragged the field State to the detail shelf – to plot State map.
Note: Because of one of the two reasons above – am getting a blank view with 49 unknowns on the bottom right.
How do you fix this?
To fix this – check your map location first.
1. Editing Location
To edit your map location – go to Map menu >> Edit Locations …
On the dialogue box – ensure that the correct location is chosen. In this case, have changed my Country/Region to United States – simply because the data I need to plot is based on that geographic area.
(Note: This does not give the solutions am looking for. This is because Tableau is still unable to match the locations in my data. Hence returning the fields as ‘Unrecognized’ - therefore I need to troubleshoot further)
2. Assign the correct geographic role
To view the currently assigned geographic role – click on the globe icon (or right click on the field) >> Geographic Role >> see what is assigned.
In this case, am able to spot the problem with my map – that is the field State has been assigned geographic role of Zip Code/Postcode instead of State/Province.
Assigning the correct geographic role, I have.
This can be used to perform spatial analysis by adding different measures.
(In this case, have added Profit to the color shelf)
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Thank you for reading.
