Maps are so good for people; they can shape people’s interactions with your Power BI reports. Sometimes, however, your data doesn’t have enough information to build a successful map. Latitude and Longitude are not provided in the New York Taxi dataset (for obvious reasons), just a zone, so how do you manage to map that? Shapefiles are used to produce a map-like solution to those moments.
When you need to use Shape Files, you must first make sure that they are compatible with Power BI. These are very simple and using https://mapshaper.org and some simple commands; you can turn any Shape Files you find on your travels into powerful visuals. Thinking through your mapping strategy is important, and having an additional card in your deck makes all the difference.