You can map any image you choose and add the effect how ever you know best, but I chose to make a simple map with a white overlay, red outline, and subtle shadow. This will make it easier to add effects like strokes and shadows. You can use any image as the foundation, but I recommend using a PNG image type because the background will be transparent. For that reason, I was able to simply do a Google search for “US map PNG” to find the foundation for my map. Things get grayer if the original artwork is a silhouette, but nobody owns the shape of the United States. As discussed in Data Visualization: The Stolen Art, there is legal precedence that people can’t own silhouettes of objects. To start the map of the United States, I first needed a silhouette of the country where I could add my design. The maps were used to show where I would be speaking in 2017, and I wanted them to be minimalist and represent my brand.
To help illustrate how to create a custom map in Tableau, I am going to recreate one of the maps featured in my visualization, Where’s Ryan. How to map a background image to create a custom geographic map in Tableau
This tutorial will show you how to map a background image in Tableau with any map image. Creating custom maps is a relatively easy way to set your reports apart and/or get your maps ‘in-brand’. As discussed in 3 Ways Psychological Schemas Can Improve Your Data Visualization, the spatial context maps provide help us and our end users process data more efficiently.ĭid you know you can create a map out of literally anything in Tableau? My best known examples of this are stadium maps and showing the source of concussions, but the same principles used to create these maps can also be used to create custom geographic maps. Simply double-clicking on a field that Tableau recognizes as geographic will generate a symbol map, saving us hours of manual work. To me, one of the most undervalued features in Tableau is its ability to visualize maps.