Getting Started with ArcGIS Maps for Power BI

[Anonymous User]

I have fired up Power BI, loaded the ArcGIS Maps visualization, signed in, and I seem to be missing something.

Should I be seeing the content of the portal or AGOL site I am connected to? I don't see any data at all. I've signed into a couple different sites successfully, but I have never seen any layers or content to work with or view.

I fear I am overlooking something obvious. If someone could provide a slight nudge, I'd much appreciate it. 

Thank you,

Randy McGregor

[Anonymous User · Accepted solution]

Hi Randy,

Have you brought in your XY data into the ArcGIS Maps for Power BI card? See the note here: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/power-bi/get-started/about-maps-for-power-bi.htm#ESRI_SECTION1_D39D9796A5F...

"As a report author, when you first create a map with ArcGIS for Power BI, you must add location data to the map to activate the visual and see the map tools."

Once you add the location data, you should be able to browse your ArcGIS Online content to add reference data.

-Calvin

[JuliaBalakirova1]

I am trying to use our Portal to load data into PowerBI and we seem to have similar problem. Question is, once you sign into organization account, is it possible to add GIS layers that represent lines and polygons and not just point data with coordinates in it?

Or does GIS for PowerBI only supports tables with coordinates in them? If that is the case, then what is the point of paying for the license to begin with? All I see is maps with Point data in it. We actually need to be able to perform visual analysis of volumes on polygons of different sizes.

[JonEmch]

Hey Julia,

   You are able to add points and polygons to the visualizer but with a catch... To add polygons, you must geocode the layer by a polygon type dataset. Example: If I bring in zip codes into the location field the visual will match up the data to zip code polygons. So if your data is subdivided into these types of data then it should be possible to bring them in as polygons.

[JuliaBalakirova1]

The answer to this is yes. I have no problems bringing any data from our Portal, or any map from the Portal for that matter.

What I ran into is that when we bring the content, we can't do any analysis with the layers form the Portal. All we get is a visual. However, TopoJSon format we exported the data into and then brought in - that one you can join with the tabular version of the data loaded into the PowerBI. And then perform the analysis.

[JuliaBalakirova1]

Forgot to add, that the tabular data has to have coordinates in it, and the Coordinate system for any GIS data coming into PowerBI has to be in WGS84. With the Portal Data of course - that won't matter. But as I stated, we were not able to locate any means of joining the visual to the tabular.

[Anonymous User]

Not yet, but this appears to be the answer 🙂 I was thinking (hoping?) that ArcGIS Maps for Power BI allowed you to access and chart the GIS data in your Portal.

Looks like the model here is that data from Portal/AGOL would be essentially background data to the tabular, non-GIS data you already have in your Power BI document?

[JonEmch]

Hey there Randy,

   At this point in time, that is correct: data from your AGOL organization and ArcGIS Enterprise is currently limited to being reference data. That being said, we have enhancements logged toward expanded functionality with these data, so I would suggest logging a case to add you account to the enhancement. Please let me know if you have any questions!

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Jon,

Helpful information. You can load Portal and AGOL service rest end points directly into Power BI for charting, but that is somewhat involved and requires handling security (token-generation) that can get tricky.

[JonEmch]

Depending on the security settings of those services, it is possible. Tricky is a good way of putting it! I wrote up this into an enhancement on our end: ENH-000131441 Develop a way to import ArcGIS REST based services and tables into PowerBI, feel free to log a case to request your account to be added to this if you would like. Please let me know if you have any follow ups!