Map labels and callouts

A Map visual can print a lot of text over the map: the name of a place, the value of an area, and a small label on a leader line where an area is too small to hold its value. This page explains what the map prints, where each name comes from, and how to read its callouts, tooltips and legend.

Choose what the labels print

Open Visual > Map and set Labels:

Mode	What prints
Auto	The default. An area prints its value, with its name above once both fit at your zoom. A point prints its name, or its value when it has no name. A 3D column prints its name and its value.
Name	The place's name.
Value	The place's value. A place with no value prints nothing.
Name + value	Both, with the name above the value.
None	No labels over the map.

Labels appear with zoom. In Auto, an area holds its value inside it only from the zoom where the value fits, and its name joins from a later zoom, once both fit. While the value does not fit inside the area, it can stand in a callout instead.

Note

An older map that was set to hide its values reads as None. Once a Labels mode is picked and saved, that mode decides.

Choose the field that names each place

Label field decides where a label's name comes from. It lists Automatic first, then the fields in Location (each marked (Location)), then the fields in Tooltips (each marked (Tooltip)).

Automatic takes the first named Location field, and then the first text Tooltips field. A point is never named by its coordinates: on a map built from Latitude and Longitude alone, the first text Tooltips field names the points.
A place that rows matched by name keeps its own name, in the label language; the field names the places that have no name of their own.
Coordinates and geometry never name a place, so they are not offered in the list.
If the field you chose leaves its well, Label field falls back to Automatic.

Set the label language

Label language sets the language of the map's place names: the basemap's own labels and the names of the places your rows matched. English is the default.

The list offers the 82 languages the map can print, each by its English name.
The map's place data carries 100 languages. The 18 it cannot print are written in Indic, South-East Asian and Ethiopic scripts, Hindi, Tamil and Thai among them, so the map cannot draw them. A map saved with one of those languages reads back as English.

Read a callout on a small area

A callout is a small label beside a small area, on a short leader line that ends in a dot on the area: the area's name over its value. It appears while the area's value does not fit inside the area at your zoom; zoom in until the value fits and the value moves inside the area, and the callout goes away.

Callouts are placed for the largest values first, and no more than twelve appear on one map.
Callouts never overlap each other or a value printed inside an area; the area that holds the spot keeps its label. Leaders never cross each other or another callout's label, and avoid neighbouring areas where they can.

Know which names step aside

Where a 3D columns map draws a column, the basemap's place names step aside: a name under a column, under a column's label or behind an extruded area is left out, so the data stays readable.

A national capital and a major city never step aside: their names stay printed, even under a column.
A name standing inside an extruded area stays, printed on the area's face.
On a tilted map, town and region names outside the part of the map your data covers are thinned away. Capitals and major cities stay, and every name inside the data's area stays. Country, neighbourhood, water and road names are not thinned.

Which points and columns are labelled

On a 3D columns map, labels stand over the column tops: the tallest columns are labelled first, no more than 40 of them take a label, and a label a taller column's label covers is dropped.
Points are named biggest first, and at most 60 points take a name, so a map with thousands of points does not turn into text.
When Cluster points groups dense points (the setting is on Map visual), only the clusters are drawn: each is one circle labelled with its number of points, and a point a cluster holds is not drawn, so no name prints where no point is drawn. Zoom in until the points separate and their names appear.

Read a hover tooltip

Hover a place to read it:

The title is the place's name. A point that nothing names shows its coordinates, latitude first, for example 39.82830, -98.57950.
Under the title, a line says where the place sits, for example Region · Bavaria or City · Illinois, United States.
Then one row for every Values measure, with the measure that colours the map standing out, and one row for every Tooltips field.
A measure with no value on that place shows No data; a Tooltips field with none shows -.
When several rows landed on one place, the tooltip says that they are combined, or names the measures that cannot be combined across them.

Read the legend

The legend names the measure that colours the map, lists its classes with the values they stand for, and ends with a No data row for the places that hold no value.

When a second measure sizes the points, a size key sits under the legend: the smallest, middle and largest value at the size drawn.
On a 3D columns map the key under the legend is the height key, titled Height · <measure>, for example Height · Deposits; its bars stand on one baseline, like the columns do.
A Heatmap's legend runs from Less to More along the colour ramp instead of listing classes.
Where a layer names its own subject, the subject comes first: a Buildings legend shows Buildings over Sales, and an exported picture prints Buildings · Sales. The exported band itself is described on Exported maps, credits and notes.

Questions, answered

What does each Labels mode print?

Auto prints the map's own choice: an area's value with its name above once both fit (its name alone when it has no value), a point's name (its value when it has no name), and a 3D column's name and value. Name, Value and Name + value print exactly what they say, and None prints no place labels.

How do I choose which field names a place?

Set Label field under Visual > Map. Pick Automatic, a field from Location, or a field from Tooltips. Automatic takes the first named Location field, then the first text Tooltips field; if the field you chose leaves its well, the select falls back to Automatic.

Which languages can the map print?

Label language lists the 82 languages the map can print, each by its English name. The place data carries 100, and the 18 it cannot print are written in Indic, South-East Asian and Ethiopic scripts, such as Hindi, Tamil or Thai. A map saved with one of those languages reads back as English.

Why do some town names disappear when I tilt the map?

On a tilted map, town and region names outside the part of the map your data covers are thinned away. Capitals and major cities stay, and names inside the data's area stay; country, neighbourhood, water and road names are not thinned.

Why do some place names hide under my 3D columns?

The basemap steps out of the data's way: a name under a column, under a column's label or behind an extruded area is left out. A national capital and a major city never step aside, and a name standing inside an extruded area stays on its face.

Why does a small area show its value beside it, not inside?

The value does not fit inside the area at your zoom yet, so it stands in a callout with a leader line. Zoom in until it fits and the value moves inside the area, and the callout goes away. The name joins the value inside the area from a later zoom, once both fit.

Why does a label say `Vake +3`?

Several rows on one place carried different texts, and a label prints the first and counts the rest. A tooltip lists up to three before the count, for example Vake, Vera, Sololaki +1.

What does a hover tooltip show?

The place's name, then a line saying where it sits (Region · Bavaria, City · Illinois, United States), then a row for every Values measure and every Tooltips field. A measure with no value on the place shows No data, a Tooltips field with none shows -, and when several rows landed on the place, the tooltip says that they are combined or names the measures that cannot be combined across them.

Why does a tooltip show numbers like `39.82830, -98.57950`?

The point has no name. A map built from Latitude and Longitude names its points by the first text Tooltips field; when nothing names a point, the tooltip falls back to its coordinates, latitude first.

Why are some points not named?

The map names the biggest points first and places at most 60 names, so a map with thousands of points does not turn into text. When points are clustered, only the cluster circles are drawn and labelled with their counts; a point a cluster holds has no name until you zoom in and the points separate.

What do legend titles like `Height · Deposits` mean?

The legend is titled by the measure that colours the map. On a 3D columns map, the key under it is the height key, titled Height · <measure>: its bars stand for the measure's values as column heights. When the Buildings layer names its own subject, the subject comes first, so the legend shows Buildings over Sales (and an exported picture prints Buildings · Sales).