Welcome to the tech section of my blog, where I share my thoughts and insights on the latest developments in the world of digital, data, and AI. As someone who is passionate about the transformative power of technology, I believe that staying up to date with the latest trends and innovations is crucial to success in this field.
In this section, you’ll find a wide range of articles and posts on topics such as digital transformation, data privacy, artificial intelligence, and more. I’ll share my perspectives on current events, emerging trends, and the future of technology, with a focus on how these developments will impact businesses, society, and individuals.
Whether you’re a technology professional, business leader, or just someone interested in the world of tech, you’ll find plenty of valuable insights and knowledge in these posts. My goal is to make complex topics accessible and easy to understand so that everyone can benefit from the incredible advances happening in the tech world today.
You can also find a lot of technical product reviews on my Amazon reviews page. These are mostly in German.
So, join me on this journey as we explore the cutting-edge world of digital, data, and AI together, and discover new ways to harness the power of technology for a better tomorrow.
⭐ Last month marked a significant milestone in my digital journey – I surpassed the remarkable number of 25,000 LinkedIn followers. This achievement is not just a number; it’s a validation of the vibrant, engaged community we’ve built together. ⭐
I am deeply grateful to each one of you – my LinkedIn followers – for making this possible. Your constant engagement and support have been the cornerstone of this journey. It’s your encouragement that drives me to share insights, analytics tutorials, and recommend must-read data books.
I’m thrilled that my content continues to help and inspire the broader 📊 data community on LinkedIn and on Twitter (➡️ @xlth). Feedback from data enthusiasts around the world motivates me to publish 📈 analytics tutorials and introduce 📖 #datamustread books.
A special note of thanks for your overwhelming response to my book, 📘 Decisively Digital (➡️ Amazon). This 400-page endeavor, a blend of thought leadership and practical insights, was fueled by the motivation and support from my LinkedIn network. Thank you!
Let’s celebrate this milestone – with a LinkedIn post, of course! I invite you to join me in further conversations, to share knowledge, and to continue growing together:
Welcome to the fascinating world of data visualization, where even maps can take the form of bar charts! I prefer to call this visualization a Skyscraper Map because you can picture these bars on a map as skyscrapers. Also known as a Bar Chart Map, this type of visualization brings your geodata to life, giving it the appearance of skyscrapers dotting a cityscape.
Why Use a Skyscraper Map?
You can use a skyscraper map to display geodata along with its corresponding values. This innovative visualization combines a map indicating various locations (be it a city, a country, or any geographical place) with a bar chart. Like a traditional bar chart, the height or volume of each bar in a skyscraper map is proportionate to the values it signifies.
Crafting a Skyscraper Map with Azure Maps in Power BI
Step 1. Click on the Azure Map icon in the Visualization pane.
Step 2. Drag the lower right corner to extend the filled map visual.
Step 3. From the Fields Plane, select PostalCode.
Step 4. Now, choose TotalSales from the Fields Plane.
Step 5. Head over to the Format your Visual section.
Step 6. Toggle off the Bubble layer switch.
Step 7. Enable the Bar chart layer switch.
Step 8. Expand the Bar chart layer pane.
Step 9. Expand the Size pane.
Step 10. Under the Size pane, set the Height to 4 px.
Step 11. Under the Size pane, set the Width to 3 px.
With these steps, you’ve created a skyscraper map showing sales by zip codes in your dataset. Want to try it out? Download the PBIX file here.
If you’re keen on diving deeper into Power BI, don’t miss my book, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Power BI (Amazon), filled with more insightful tutorials like this one. Got any feedback, ideas, or questions about creating bar chart maps in Power BI? I’d love to hear from you:
I’m honored to support Girls Who Code along with Nathan Yau, Zach Gemignani, and many other great data visualization authors.
Pay what you want and get your dataviz humble bundle here.
More from the Humble Bundle website:
Make insights & analytics take shape
Learn how to give your raw materials form and substance with books like Visual Analytics with Tableau, Data Fluency, and Visualize This from Wiley, filled with expert advice on the tools and techniques you & your organization need. Plus, your purchase helps support Girls Who Code!
Complete list of data visualization books in this humble bundle:
UPDATE July 25, 2022: Along with other data visualization book authors, we already raised over $23,000 in donations for Girls Who Code through the Dataviz Humble Bundle: https://bit.ly/DataVizBundle
Microsoft’s Power BI is known for its data visualization capabilities, but many exciting features are not enabled by default. These under-the-radar features are known as Power BI Preview Features, and they often have the potential to significantly enhance your data analysis efforts. Some of these exciting features include Azure Maps, which is essential for creating impactful Skyscraper Maps with Power BI.
Follow this Step-by-step Guide
To leverage the power of these Preview Features, you need to enable them in your Power BI interface. Here is a quick guide to help you activate Azure Maps and other Preview Features:
Step 1: Navigate to the File tab on Power BI’s menu bar. Note: There is no need to have a data connection, the opening modal can be closed.
Step 2: Choose Options and Settings from the dropdown menu.
Step 3: From the subsequent options, click on Options.
Step 4: In the new dialogue box, select Preview Features from the list on the left-hand side.
Step 5: Check the box next to Azure Map Visual to enable it.
Step 6: Confirm your changes by clicking the OK button.
Power BI’s Preview Features evolve over time, with new features continuously being tested and added. As of now, the current preview features you can enable in Power BI include:
Shape Map Visual
Spanish Language Support for Q&A
Q&A for Live Connected Analysis Services Databases
The world of Power BI is a treasure trove of powerful capabilities waiting to be explored. Share your experiences, creative applications, and insights as you navigate this exciting realm:
Earlier today I read the news from NetBlocks (via Reuters) that since the weekend parts of the Ukrainian internet traffic are rerouted via Russia. To be precise, it’s about Ukrainian Kherson Oblast, which is occupied by Russia since March.
Now I wanted to trace the internet route myself and ideally visualize it. Here I came across the service of GeoTraceroute, which does a great job in visualizing traceroutes (aka. tracert). For the trace, I chose Frankfurt as starting point, and skynet.ua, the local internet provider in Kherson, as the endpoint.
Of course, you can also include the URL of GeoTraceroute as a web element in your Power BI report or Tableau dashboard and parameterize it for dynamic interactions. You can see the format as in my example:
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