ArcGIS Maps for Power BI is a mapping visual available within Microsoft Power BI. No need to install a separate plug-in or extension—just click the Esri icon and start visualizing your data on maps. It works with Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service. Our March 2020 release introduced several new capabilities and we continue to add more features. This release features an all-new user interface and introduces multiple tools in the format pane that enable Power BI report authors to provide additional capabilities to the viewers.

Get started quickly with a new login screen

All Power BI users can use ArcGIS Maps for Power BI by simply clicking on the Esri visual and dragging data to the Location field. You can geocode, detect patterns in your data with different map styles, and find similar or nearby locations. You can also access US demographics and infographics information to gain better insight into your data and make smarter decisions.

With an ArcGIS account and Maps for Power BI add-on license, you can sign in with your ArcGIS credentials, choosing either ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise. Signing in as an ArcGIS user unlocks additional features. You can now bring in data from your ArcGIS organization into Power BI and analyze it with other data, geocode more points per map, add multiple reference layers, and access Esri’s global curated data.

Access all tools in one place in a new design

With this release, you will notice a new interface. You can now easily access all tools in one place. Click Analysis tools  to see the tools you need to analyze the data the you have mapped.  Click Settings  to access online help, or click Basemaps  to choose a new basemap for your data. All Power BI users can now also access 2020 demographics data curated by esri. If you have an ArcGIS account and Maps for Power BI add-on license, you can access a wider collection of data from the Living Atlas of the World.

Customize your Power BI reports with new formatting tools

This release introduces a variety of new tools in the visual’s format pane, providing you with more flexibility when designing and presenting your maps. The Lock extent feature, available in the Map tools category, allows designers to restrict map zooming and panning, ensuring that Power BI report consumers see the map exactly as it was designed. When the map extent is locked, interactions with other visuals are also restricted.

The new Layers list, or table of contents, can be pinned to the map so it’s always visible to users. You can specify its position on the map or turn it off altogether. The same options also apply to infographics cards and map navigation buttons.  Refine the location of your data by specifying the country in which it’s located or change the color settings for the simplified Search feature.

Pin locations more accurately with the new Geosearch Service

With the new and improved geosearch feature, all Power BI report users can easily type an address in the search bar, find the right location, and pin it on the map. Power BI report designers can enable the Search feature for report consumers using the Format pane settings, allowing users to search and pin a location on the map; the pinned location appears on the map, but it’s not stored for later use.

Create informative maps quickly with Smart Mapping

This release greatly improves the smart mapping functionality of ArcGIS Maps for Power BI. Smart mapping automatically analyzes your data and makes data-driven styling suggestions, which means less guesswork for you. Improved color ramps let you more clearly visualize the different data categories on a map. You can also create more accurate heatmaps to clearly identify the highest-density locations in your data. Additionally, when you drag an address field to the Location field well, the visual automatically detects the data type and creates polygons or points on the map, as appropriate.

What’s coming

In 2020, our team is working on support for Publish to web and Embedded. We’re also working on more deeply integrating our visual with Power BI to support drill-through, drill-up and drill-down, and more features. We would love to hear from you. Join our Geonet community to share your feedback, questions, and ideas on how we can make ArcGIS Maps for Power BI more useful for you. For more information, visit our  product page. Get tips on using the different mapping tools with these videos or read user feedback on G2 Crowd.