About the Types of Formats that Apply to Map Layers

A map view uses columns of BI data. Each column has a set of properties that define its characteristics, such as for formatting and interaction. Any formatting that is applied to a column isn’t applied to the map, except for the settings for interaction. Any formatting that originates from the map thresholds is applied.

You can apply various kinds of formats to map views and BI layers. You can’t apply formats to non-BI layers. You can define various formats to apply to BI layers.

Field	Description
Color Fill	Displays the Color Fill (Layer) dialog, which you use to display areas in fill colors that indicate that an area meets a particular condition. Color fill formats apply to regions or polygons. For example, a color fill format might identify a range of colors to represent the population in the states of a region or the popularity of a product in the states of a region. A map view can have multiple color formats visible at different zoom levels. For example, a color fill format for the layer at zoom levels 1-5 might represent the population of a state, and the county median income for the layer at zoom levels 6-10. You can also specify different colors to identify a range of data values.
Bar Graph	Displays the Bar Graph (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a series of data as a bar graph within an area. Graph formats can show statistics related to a given region such as states or counties. For example, a graph format can display the sales values for several products in a state. Even though you can create multiple graph formats for a particular layer, such creation isn’t recommend as the formats might overlap on the layer and the displayed results might be undesirable.
Pie Graph	Displays the Pie Graph (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a series of data as a pie graph within an area.
Shape	Displays the Variable Shape (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a measure column that is associated with an area by drawing markers or shapes within the region. You can also specify different colors for the shape to identify a range of data values.
Bubble	Displays the Bubble (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a bubble within an area, similar to the shape format.
Image	Displays the Image (Layer) dialog, which you use to display an image within an area, similar to the shape format. You can specify different images to identify a range of data values. You select images that have been specified by the administrator.
Line	Displays the Line (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a line on a map. You can include lines on maps to display paths such as highways, railway lines, and shipping routes. You can specify the width of lines and you can use the Map Wrap-Around feature on the Map Properties dialog to allow lines to be unbroken, such as when showing an airline flight path from San Francisco to Tokyo. You can vary the width of a line by each measure to accentuate a feature.
Custom Point	Displays the Format Custom Point (Layer) dialog, which you use to display a point format, such as a bubble, image, or shape in a layer. Custom points are displayed at all zoom levels and on top of all other map formatting. When you create a Custom Point format, you select columns to specify the latitude and longitude