Test drive July 18, 2018 Update to Power BI

You can download Power BI Desktop from link shown at the end , or get it from Microsoft Store (Search for Power BI in Windows Store).

Power BI is Microsoft's Business Intelligence software that allows you turn out eye-catching reports from a variety of data sources offering superb visualization. What is more? It is updated every month to bring in new functionalities; improve existing ones and offering new data connectivity options.

I downloaded from Windows store and it looks like there are two versions of Power BI. I chose the first option.

The full name of the product I installed is the following:

These are the new features of the July 2018 update:


Modeling
Composite models (preview)

Reporting
New visual header with more flexibility and formatting
Wallpaper formatting
Theming update – more visual and page control (preview)
Tooltips for table and matrix
Turn tooltips off for visuals
Slicer accessibility
Formatting pane improvements
Stepped line support for line and combo charts
Turn off combo chart data labels for individual series
Sorting experience improvement

Analytics
Distribution factor insights

Custom visuals
Power BI certified category
Disabling specific organizational visual
Visio custom visual generally available
Mapbox custom visual generally available
DataText Box custom visual
China Scatter Map custom visual

Data Connectivity
IBM DB2 DirectQuery connector (preview)
Improvements to Web By Example connector
Support for importing multiple custom tables
Automatic completions for specifying sample values
Exposure of attribute selectors in HTML.Table function
SAP HANA – Default values for variables in Variable Input experience


Download link & feature summary and  here.

Using basic analytics using Power BI - Part 1

In an earlier post getting data from WEB  was described which used Indian demographics data.

In this post some analytics information will be added to the display using built-in analytic capabilities of Power BI.

Here is the WEB retrieved data from the link mentioned earlier.

Analytics_5_7_2018_0.png

Here is a visual of male, female and total populations from the Southern states Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Analytics_5_7_2018_1.png

If you are not on a 'visual', you will not see the icon for the Analytics in the Visualizations section as shown. I am showing a visual, but I am not on it.

Here we have Page Level filter as shown

Analytics_5_7_2018_2.png

The total population is less than 10M in each state as you can see by adding data.

Once you are on a visual you can access the 'Analytics' as shown here.

Analytics_5_7_2018_4

Now click on 'Analytics' and you can add a number of analytics markers as shown here.

Analytics_5_7_2018_5

Now you will add a line showing average (Blue line)  of population of Females as shown here.

Here are few more settings for 'average line' that was not captured in the previous image. A zoom control would have captured the whole page of interest.

Similarly you add the Min Line, Max Line, Media Line and Percentile lines to the data.

SQLite with Power BI

Power BI is a Microsoft product for business intelligence. SQLite is well known for its use in mobile platforms and embedded apps.

Get Power BI Desktop from here.

There is no native way of connecting to SQLite using Power BI, but you could use the ODBC driver which was described in an earlier post.

Read here:

ODBC Drivers for SQLite:

Read here:

Creating ODBC DSN for SQLite3:

https://hodentekmsss.blogspot.com/2018/04/creating-odbc-dsn-for-connecting-to.html

Connecting to SQLite3 using Power BI is easy. Here are the steps.

Launch Power BI and open the Get Data menu as shown.

In the list in the Other click on ODBC.

Highlight the DSN, ODBCSQLite and Click OK. 

Change it to Windows (this may not be necessary) and click Connect.

The "From ODBC" window is displayed. Click on Advanced Options to display the pane where you can write a SQL Statement.

It goes through from processing and since there is no table by that name, it returns an error.

Now change the SQL Statement to the following:

Select * from Users

After some processing, it gets connected.

Now you can find the table details in Navigator as shown.

Power BI does not show the tables and write a query you need to know the objects you created in the SQLite database.

Are these ArcGIS map features real?

In my previous post, I showed how ArcGIS map may be embedded in a Power BI report using the

ArcGIS Map Control in Power BI. It is easy to embed and author a report easily.

I had used US Census data for the Hawaaiian Islands' water and land areas mapped to the Hawaiian Islands. However, I found features on the map which are obviously wrong.

Here are some feeatures I observed on the map, one of them is in the Phillipines and the other in India.

Embedding an ArcGIS Map in Power BI

Power BI has an ArcGIS Map Control. This post shows how you may use it. The example of using publicly available data (Census Data: Hawaiian Islands) to be displayed in the ArcGIS Map inside Power BI.




Just watch the video:

Using Power BI with ArcGIS

ArcGIS software has a world wide audience for its utilities as innumerable projects use the geospatial data together with this application. Power BI has a lot going for its Analytical / Visualizations and it has its own MAP display control as well.  Well ArcGIS Map for Power BI enhances the value for Power BI with this addition.

You start your journey at this link .

As in most things in life there is free stuff(what you can do is limited) and there is one for which you pay more (you can do lot more), so it is with ArcGIS.

In Power BI, you should have the ArcGIS Maps for Power BI.

ArcGisPowerBI.png

These following are included for free from within Power BI.

ArcGisPowerBI_1

If you sign-up for Plus subscription ($5/month, /User). You can do this within Power BI.

ArcGisPowerBI_2

Using it is as easy as 1-2-3.

ArcGisPowerBI_3

Enhance your Power BI experience, download March 2018 Update

The update is out and you can get it from here:

You can also get it from Windows Store if you are running Windows 10.

Well what is new?

On reporting you have the following:

Report page tooltips (preview)

Bookmarking is now generally available

Display units and precision control for table & matrix columns

Turn off the visual header in reading mode for a report

Improved default visual placement

On custom visuals you have the following:

Custom visuals

Mapbox

User List by CloudScope

Timeline by CloudScope

KPI Chart by Akvelon

R DataTable

Outliers Detection

Data Insights by MAQ Software

Dumbbell Chart by MAQ Software

Clustering using OPTICS by MAQ Software

For data connectivity you have these new ones:

SAP HANA connector enhancements

DirectQuery multidimensional support is now generally available

SSL certificate validation support

SAP BW DirectQuery is now generally available

And you also have the following:

Improved error reporting

View previous errors you’ve encountered

Watch this video to learn the new stuff in the March 2018 update:

Get all these Power BI posts on my site here:
https://hodentekmsss.blogspot.com/search?q=power+BI

https://hodentekmsss.blogspot.com/search?q=power+BI