How to Create a Filled Map in Tableau

Creating a filled map is one of the quickest ways to see how your data plays out across different regions. Instead of looking at a table of states and sales numbers, a filled map instantly shows you which areas are hot and which are not. This guide will walk you through creating a filled map in Tableau, from preparing your data to customizing the final look.

What Exactly is a Filled Map?

A filled map, also known as a choropleth map, uses color shading or patterns to visualize data for specific geographic areas. Each area - be it a country, state, county, or zip code - is colored based on a data point associated with it. This is incredibly useful for instantly spotting regional trends, concentrations, or outliers.

You’d use a filled map to answer questions like:

• Which states generated the most revenue last quarter?
• What is the population density across different countries in Europe?
• Which sales territories are meeting their quotas?

Unlike symbol maps that place a dot or custom shape over a location, filled maps color the entire boundary of the area. This makes them ideal for comparing a single measure across a region, especially when the geographic size of the areas is relevant to the story you're telling.

Preparing Your Data for Mapping

Tableau is smart, but it’s not a mind reader. The most common reason a map fails to build correctly is an issue with the underlying data. Before you even open Tableau, spending a couple of minutes to check your data will save you a lot of headaches.

Tableau automatically recognizes common geographic data types, such as:

• Country
• State / Province
• City
• County
• ZIP Code / Postcode
• Airport codes (IATA)

To ensure Tableau correctly identifies your locations, make sure your data columns are clean. A column for "State" should contain "California," "New York," and "Texas," not a mix of "CA," "NY," and "Texas USA." Consistency is the most important factor. If Tableau struggles to recognize a location, it’s often due to misspellings, non-standard abbreviations, or mixed data types in a single column.

For example, if you want to map sales by U.S. state, your spreadsheet should have at least two columns: one with the state names (e.g., "State") and one with the sales data (e.g., "Sales").

Pro Tip: More detail is always better. If you’re mapping cities, include columns for State and Country as well. This helps Tableau resolve ambiguities, like Paris, Texas versus Paris, France.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Filled Map Chart

Once your data is ready, creating the map itself is surprisingly fast. We’ll use a simple dataset of sales by U.S. state as our example.

Step 1: Connect to Your Data Source

First, open Tableau and connect to your data. This could be an Excel file, a Google Sheet, a CSV, or a connection to a database. Navigate to your file and Tableau will load it into the Data Source tab. You’ll see a preview of your columns and rows.

Step 2: Assign Geographic Roles

After loading your data, go to a worksheet by clicking "Sheet 1" at the bottom. In the Data pane on the left, check that your geographic fields have a small globe icon next to them. This means Tableau has automatically assigned a geographic role.

If your "State" column has an "Abc" icon instead, you'll need to assign the role manually. Just right-click on the field, select Geographic Role, and choose the appropriate one (e.g., State/Province). This tells Tableau to treat that text as a location, not just a random string of characters.

Step 3: Generate the Basic Map

This is where Tableau really shines. Find your geographic field (in our case, "State") in the Data pane and simply double-click it.

Tableau instantly does a few things:

• It adds the State field to the Detail shelf on the Marks card.
• It generates Latitude (generated) and Longitude (generated) fields and places them on the Rows and Columns shelves.
• It displays a map with a dot for each state in your data.

Step 4: Switch to a Filled Map View

Right now, you probably have a symbol map. To change it into a filled map, go to the Marks card. There's a dropdown menu that likely says "Automatic." Click it and select "Map" from the list. Your dots will immediately transform into filled-in state shapes.

Step 5: Add Color with Your Data

A map with uncolored shapes isn't very useful. It's time to add your measure to bring the data to life. Find your measure (e.g., "Sales") in the Data pane and drag it directly onto the Color shelf on the Marks card.

Tableau immediately colors each state based on its sales value. By default, it uses a continuous color gradient, where lower values are lighter and higher values are darker. A color legend appears on the right so you can interpret the shading.

Alternatively, you could color the map by a dimension, like "Region." Dragging a dimension to Color will assign a unique color to each region, helping you visualize sales territories or other categories.

Step 6: Customize and Refine Your Map

You now have a functional filled map, but a little customization can make it much easier to read and understand.

Editing Colors

Don't like the default blue? Click on the Color shelf and then "Edit Colors." This opens a dialog box where you can choose from dozens of pre-built palettes (like Red-Green diverging for profit, or simple Orange-Blue) or create your own custom colors.

Adding Labels

Shading is great, but sometimes you want to see the actual numbers. You can add labels directly to your map. Drag your "State" field onto the Label shelf to display the state name on each shape. Then, drag your "Sales" field onto the Label shelf as well. Now each state will show its name and its total sales.

Improving Tooltips

The tooltip is the box that appears when you hover over a mark (in this case, a state). By default, it shows the fields used in the view. You can add more information by dragging other fields from the Data pane onto the Tooltip shelf. You can also click the Tooltip shelf to open an editor and customize the text, formatting, and layout for a much richer interactive experience.

Adjusting Map Layers

For a cleaner look, you can adjust the background map elements. Go to the top menu and select Map > Map Layers. A new pane will open on the left, allowing you to change the background style (Light, Dark, an outdoor look, etc.) and toggle layers like state borders, country names, and coastlines.

Troubleshooting Common Mapping Issues

Even with careful preparation, you might run into a few common problems. Here’s how to fix them.

"Unknown Locations" Warning

If you see a grey pill in the bottom right corner that says "# unknown," it means Tableau couldn't recognize one or more of your locations. Click on it and select "Edit Locations."

This menu shows you which entries Tableau couldn't match. Sometimes it's a simple typo ("Texus" instead of "Texas"). Other times, it's an abbreviation that Tableau doesn't recognize by default ("USA" might not match "United States"). You can manually match your unrecognized location to Tableau's known locations in this dialog.

The Map is Blank

A blank map is frustrating but usually an easy fix. The most common causes are:

• Your geographic field isn’t assigned the correct geographic role. Double-check for the globe icon.
• Your locations are all "Unknown." Check for typos or ambiguities.
• A filter is accidentally excluding all of your data. Check the Filters shelf to see if any filters are active.

Dealing with Ambiguous Locations

If you're mapping cities and your map has dots in surprising places, you might be dealing with ambiguous locations. Many cities share the same name (e.g., there are over 30 cities named Springfield in the U.S. alone). To fix this, provide more detail. If you have "City" in your view, also drag "State" onto the Detail shelf. This gives Tableau the context it needs to plot the city in the correct state.

Final Thoughts

A filled map is a powerful tool for transforming raw geographic data into an immediate, compelling visual story. By getting your data clean first and then following the simple drag-and-drop process in Tableau, you can quickly build visualizations that surface regional trends and insights a simple bar chart could never reveal.

While powerful tools like Tableau offer deep customization, connecting all your data and building reports still involves a learning curve and manual effort. At Graphed, we aim to eliminate that friction. After connecting your tools like Google Analytics or Salesforce with a few clicks, you can simply ask for what you need - like, "Create a map showing sales by state for last quarter." It’s an AI-powered approach that turns hours of dashboard building into a 30-second conversation, letting you get straight to the insights.