A marker map places markers on specific locations in order to show data points and allow quick, visual distribution analysis across a geographical area. The numbers represent the amount of underlying coordinate pairs.
In Luzmo, creating a marker map is straightforward. Click on add Item, then scroll to the ‘Maps’ section and select the Marker Map from the map charts. Drag it onto your dashboard.
Upon selecting ‘data’ settings, you will be prompted to fill in two dataslots: geography and measure. Let's explore each one:
For a marker map, you need geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) to place your markers accurately. Use Luzmo's public datasets with geographic columns or upload your own. You would need to have longitude and latitude columns in your dataset and create a Coordinates column from those, as explained in our academy article here.
While we recomment coordinates for this map type, topography data can also be used. However, please keep in mind that certain use cases (for example countries with multiple territories) may generate imprecise results, with the center of the topographical area being ouside of the main country area.
After adding your geography data, and linking it to your measure dataset if needed, you can just add your measure column to the Measure slot. The data will appear immediately on the map.
Once you’ve added your data to the geography and measure slots, the markers will populate the map. Customize the markers' color in the theme settings to match your dashboard's look. You can also change map style and other functions in the settings.
For the sake of clarity, mind the "Cluster surface" setting, that will allow you to define the size of the area that the markers will cover.
The marker map is similar to the symbol, hexbin and spike maps. They differ, of course, in the type of visual representation that they use in order to display data. More information about all available map types can be found here.