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Bernard K

The Tableau Mapping Workspace

Updated: May 18, 2021


The Tableau mapping space contains the elements and objects you need in your mapping assignments. It comprises of;

  1. The data pane

  2. The marks card

  3. The map menu

  4. The view tool bar

  5. The visualization area

Data pane

The Tableau data pane organizes your data into dimensions and measures. Typically your location fields (such as State, Region, Country etc) should be dimensions while your latitude and longitude fields measures.

Visual cues (such as globe icon) next to such location fields imply that a geographical role is allocated to such fields.

A – The globe icons imply that the fields have been assigned to a geographical role hence can be mapped in Tableau.

B – The Latitude (generated) and Longitude (generated) fields are automatically generated when your assign a geographical role to a location field. They too can be used in mapping.

Marks Card

Marks card area is where you control granularity and visual detail of your map view. You can drag location fields to detail to add more granularity or drag fields to size, color or label to add visual details and change marks type from point map to polygon map.

C – Change your mark type from point map to polygon map.

D – Add visual details such as color, size and label to your map.

E – Add location fields to detail to create your maps or add more granularity.

Map menu

The map menu contains several options;

  • Background maps – this allows you add map service (such as Mapbox), enabling you change background maps available in your workbook.

  • Background images – this options allows you to use static images to create maps.

  • Geocoding – the geocoding option allows you import locations Tableau does not recognize into your maps.

  • Edit Locations – This option allows you edit location data to match Tableau map data.

  • Map layers – this allows you customize you map background style either by adding or removing map layers.

  • Map option – This option is used to control if users can pan, zoom or use the view tool bar.

View tool bar

The view tool bar houses several map controls.

F – Use map search icon to such locations in your map.

G – Use (+) or (-) to zoom in and out of your maps.

H – Use pin to fix your map at a specific zoom level

I – Access other options such as zoom area, pan and selection options.

Visualization area

This is where your visualization (map) appears.

I hope this was helpful to you. To receive more of Tableau tips and tricks, kindly join our mailing list below.

Thank you for reading.

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About Me

More About the Author

Bernard K

Analytics Consultant | 3X Tableau Certified

Bernard is a data analytics consultant helping businesses reveal the true power of their data and bring clarity to their reporting dashboards. He loves building things and sharing knowledge on how to build dashboards that drive better outcomes.

Let’s discuss your data challenges! Let’s work together!

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