Need list of Valid Continent Values - Plus my research so far

[alwweb]

I know there is a similar thread, but it is marked as "answered" by a Microsoft person, but it doesn't have a full answer. 

I just spent a lot of time using the MSN Map Info I found referenced in another thread and a test pbix and Excel file to come up with the following list.

Plus, there is a major problem with the Map visualization (bubble map) and Filled map visualization.  An entry of Central America or Latin America colors or adds a bubble to the United Stated (including Hawaii and Alaska).  Also, the North America bubble is over Canada, although the highlighting works fine in the filled map as long as Latin America is not also included.

Here is what I found so far, but Microsoft really should have an official list somewhere.  We should have to spend hours trying to determine the spelling that will be needed.  Additional things I learned are included in the pbix file that is attached along with the Excel file I was working from. 

North America, South America, Europe, Africa work basically as expected.

Both Australia or Australia/Pacific fills just Australia, including Tasmania.

Asia and Asia Pacific are identical and pretty much what you would expect.

pbix file on my Dropbox

Excel file on my Dropbox

[v-kelly-msft]

Hi @alwweb ，

Sorry but we dont have the list per your request,what is showing in maps is from bing map,as you see below:

So try to find the list searching in Bing.

Best Regards,
Kelly

Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution!

[IoTGirl]

Hello Alwweb,

I have provided this reply in your post at Answers.Microsoft.com for Bing Maps as well.

The maps charts you are using rely on Polygons and when I attempt to reproduce your issue I get an error message that charts need Country/Region, State/Province, County or Postal Code.  The artifacts you are asking for are under indeed under a geographic class called "Continent" and that does not have a polygon but rather a point that is placed at the geographic center.  A great example of this is Australia, which is both a Continent and a Country.  

When you use Australia in the Chart controls it shows as a polygon because it is being interpreted as a "Country"

When you search on Bing you get a point as it is interpreting that as a continent https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=854e4011-5301-4e4b-b707-1a97f9479268&cp=-28.94695~133.2711&lvl=5&imgi... 

When you search for a region within Australia, you will get the polygon https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=e877b671-9ef4-4e34-abff-83fe454a0315&cp=-31.579156~143.12334&lvl=6&im... 

So I believe, in order to get a continent, you will need to show the regions within that continent.

Sincerely,

IoTGirl

[alwweb]

Thank you.  The explanation and the two links, plus knowing that it is using polygons explains why some of the items are behaving differently in the plain (bubble) map vs the filled map.

I still can't figure out when Latin America shows up as the United States, but I'm guessing it is how the polygon is being defined behind the scenes in the map visualization before it is sent to Bing maps.

When you tried to replicate, did you have  Data Categories defined in Power BI?  That is typically required to get it to read correctly. 

Thanks again for diving into this for me. I know a lot more now than I did before.

[Greg_Deckler]

Probably should be asking this to the Bing community as that is what geocodes things.

[alwweb]

Thanks.  I will try to post there as well, but there does not seem to be a one to one mapping between what is listed for bing maps and how it works in different visuals, so I'm guessing it at least has something to do with how Power BI is grabbing the values, interpreting them, and then sending them off.

So maybe a better question is, how do the  Map and Filled map visualizations interpret the values placed in the Continent, Country, State, and City Data Category fields and what geocoding scheme is used to look up the Lat Lon?