Continuing the series on maps in Looker Studio, this post will focus on another map type offered by Google Maps: the heatmap.
As in previous posts about maps, I’ll continue using the H&M store data.
Visit the post on how to add charts to your report in Looker Studio, if you need a refresher.
1. Heatmaps
Heatmaps display the density or intensity of an occurrence using radio that deploy three different colours. Each colour represents the value of the metric at a given point on the map. You can choose these three colours within the Style settings, and they can either be three distinct colours or different shades of the same colour. Typically, one colour is assigned to the maximum value, another to the middle value, and the third to the minimum, similar to filled maps.
Heatmaps are particularly useful when you have a large number of data points and want to represent the density or intensity of an event.
Remember, you can add any visualisation in two ways:
From the top menu, go to Insert and select the chart you want to work with.
In the second top menu, click Add a chart and choose the one that interests you.
2. Example
Unlike filled maps, heatmaps are a good option for visualising data at the city level. In the following graphic, we can see a heatmap showing the number of H&M stores by city.
The chart set-up should display the fields shown in the image within Location (City) and Weight (Record count -number of stores-).
When zoomed out to show the entire world, it’s clear that cities in Europe, the United States, and China are where the highest concentrations of H&M stores are located.
If you want to zoom in on a specific region, such as Southern Europe, and have the map load in that view for the final report users, go to Style. With the map set to your desired view, select Set as default view under Default viewport.
Lastly, the map legend shows the colours used to represent the values, from lower to higher.
This is the last post in the series about maps. Now that we’ve gone over several map types, which one would you say is your favorite?