why are esri maps disabled in Power BI report server?

[Anonymous User]

It appears that ESRI Maps are disabled in Report server and you can only use the Desktop version with a locally published file.  How come? 

[ScottBall]

Hey John - a primary use case for Power BI Report Server is to work in a disconnected / offline environment. The ArcGIS Maps visual relies upon a connection to Esri servers for nearly all of its functionality. The visual just wouldn't work in a disconnected environment, so the decision was made to only make it available in Power BI Service, Desktop, and Mobile. 

I'm not sure I understand the second part of your question about a locally published file - can you expand on that a bit?

[Anonymous User]

Hey Scott –

What is Power BI service? How does that differ from Report Server? The local file reference just means we can build a Power BI report, save to a shared file location and others can consume it. We want to be able to have reports/analytics with a Map that can be published to other users in the org.

Thanks – John Z

[ScottBall]

Hey John - Power BI service is the 'cloud' version of Power BI. Microsoft thinks 'cloud first' so features and functions will often come to Power BI service first. More info about Power BI service here: Get started with Power BI service (Power BI online) - Power BI | Microsoft Docs 

Thanks for the info about the local file reference. I'm assuming that local file would still be built using Power BI report server as the backend, correct? If so, that will prevent you from being able to use ArcGIS Maps for Power BI unfortunately. 

[Anonymous User]

Thanks Scott, that’s what I thought, but just wanted to be clear. ☺ -JZ

[deleted-user-8TVt6oc0ewsX]

Hi Scott, can you find out if this is also available on the gov version of the service?  

''....https://app.powerbigov.us/  

My account can't access the non-gov version.  As such, I cannot enable Maps for PowerBI.  I have access on desktop but cannot enable on the service.

Is this something you can find out?  I see a message,

"Your organization has disabled use of ArcGIS Maps for Power BI."

[JoshJones2]

Hey folks -

Apologies for the delayed response on this.

We have confirmed with Microsoft that ArcGIS Maps for Power BI works in the government cloud. It just needs to be enabled at the tenant and workspace levels (there are two flags).  The recommendation we received from Microsoft was to make sure the Power BI admin has enabled the switches. Unfortunately there's nothing else we can do from the Esri side, but hopefully this will help to point the request in the right direction!

Let me know if there are any further questions.

Josh