Product Tour
forums
Use these forums to ask questions and discuss Tableau.
Finding map images
One use for the new background images feature is to overlay your data on a map image, thus adding a two dimensional context using latitude and longitude values. The challenge becomes finding maps of a given region. Although I have not succeeded in finding a really good free solution, the following are some resources for buying maps:
http://www.geoatlas.com/
http://www.mapresources.com/ -- Provides Adobe Illustrator files
http://www.creativeforce.com/ -- Provides Adobe Illustrator files
Be aware that many map images are protected by copyrights and other licenses. For example, the last two companies listed above restrict you from selling the Illustrator maps, however, you can freely use the Bitmap images produced from these files.
Does anyone know of any good Web sites where I can get a map of a specific region, preferably defined by lat/long coordinates?
Subscribe to the comments on "Finding map images"
Comments
Ask.com has lots of free use OUTLINE maps. Maps of countries, and each of the states. Sorry, you will have to figure your lat long points that define the map. This is exactly what I was searching for.
http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxusx.htm
I'm still looking for a way to pull lat lon from zip via either Yahoo Maps or Google Maps!
Wikipedia has a number of public domain images of the earth through it's wikimedia site.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:World_maps
http://www.crankfire.com/google/latlonfinder.php
The above link can be used to set the bounds of a map in Tableau. It is a kludge, but given 5 minutes, you can locate the points on your map from a similar Google Map. Click on the four points and the Lat & Lon will be shown.
I also have found an extremely easy method for converting ZIP to Lat / Lon in case anyone is interested??
Hi All,
Please check these two amazing sites:
-- this site contains a map machine, looks like google earth!
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
-- This one contains printable maps with longitude/latitdue values:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/
Mohammad S. Samaha
Greetings Ricky-
I often have to verify ZIP to Lat/Long from various sources in my work with schools & education agencies, and would greatly appreciate learning about your method.
Thanks!
Tomas Saucedo
tosaucedo@nea.org
Tableau 4.0 now has built in maps and geocoding so you no longer have to go out to find map images. You can learn more about mapping in the online help or from the Mapping quick start guide.