Google Maps reference

Adding Google Maps to your reports gives your viewers a familiar interactive environment where they can explore geographic data. Google Maps in Looker Studio are highly customizable and integrate with any data source that contains valid geo fields.

Before you begin

To add Google Maps to Looker Studio, you'll need a data source with one or more geographic dimensions. Data sources that are based on Google Analytics and Google Ads automatically include fields that you can use, such as Country, City, Region, Metro area, and Store location.

For other data source types, such as Google Sheets or BigQuery, make sure that any geographic fields have the correctly assigned data type. To edit the geographic dimensions in your data source, follow these steps:

Edit the data source.
Locate the geographic dimension(s) that you want to use in Google Maps.
Use the Type menu to select the appropriate Geo field type — for example, Country, City, or Region.

To learn more about geo dimensions, see the Geo dimension reference.

Plot your data with Google Maps

Edit your report.
Navigate to the page that will contain the chart.
In the toolbar, click Add a chart.
Select one of the preset Google Maps:
1. Bubble maps show your data as colored circles.
2. Filled maps show your data as shaded areas.
3. Heatmaps show your data using a color gradient.
4. Line maps show your data as lines or paths over a geographic area.
5. Connection maps show your data as pairs of points that are connected by a line or an arc.
6. Combo maps show your data as a combination of a filled map and a bubble map.
Click the canvas to add the chart to the report.
Use the properties panel on the right to add or change the Location or Geospatial field so that your map displays the intended locations.
Refer to the following sections for information on configuring the rest of your map.

Configure a bubble map

Bubble maps depict your data as colored circles, or bubbles. Here's a bubble map that shows airline arrivals in California, where the quantity of flights (the Flights dimension) is represented by bubble size and the average arrival delay (the Avg. Arrival Delay metric) is represented by bubble color:

A bubble map displays airline arrivals in California with the number of flights indicated by bubble size and the average arrival delay indicated by bubble color.

Setup properties

The following setup properties are available for bubble maps.

Location

The Location field requires a dimension that determines where the data appears on the map. Note that this field can be of any data type, as long as Google Maps can geocode the values appropriately.

(Optional) The Tooltip field requires a dimension that provides tooltips (labels) for the data. Providing a tooltip lets you override the default label that is provided by the Location dimension. For example, you can base the map location on a store's address but use the store's name in the tooltip.

The Tooltip option requires unique values for each Location value. If the Tooltip values are duplicated, you'll see an error message:

Warning: Can't show Google Maps

The Tooltip dimension has multiple values for the same location. Choose a Tooltip dimension that has a unique value for each location.

To fix this error, use a dimension that has a 1:1 relationship with your Location dimension.

Color dimension

(Optional) A dimension that provides the categories that are used for the color of the geo data. If you choose this option, you can't use the Color metric option.

The Color dimension option requires unique values for each Location value. If the Color dimension values are duplicated, you'll see an error message:

Warning: Can't show Google Maps

The Color dimension has multiple values for the same location. Choose a Color dimension that has a unique value for each location.

To fix this error, use a dimension that has a 1:1 relationship with your Location dimension.

Color metric

(Optional) The Color metric field requires a metric that provides the values that are used as a color scale for the geo data. If you choose this option, you can't use the Color dimension option.

Size

Use the size of the bubbles to convey relative metric values.

Style properties

The following style properties are available for bubble maps.

Chart title

To add a title to your chart, enable the Show title option. Looker Studio can automatically generate a title, or you can create a custom title for the chart. You can also customize the title's styling and placement.

To have Looker Studio generate a title that is based on the chart type and the fields that are used in the chart, enable the Autogenerate option. This option is enabled by default when Show title is also enabled.

To add a custom title to your chart, enter it in the Title field. This will clear the Autogenerate checkbox and turn off this setting.

The Chart title settings control how the map's title appears:

Title: Provides a text field where report editors can enter a custom title for the chart.
Title font size: Sets the font size for the title text.
Title font type: Sets the font type for the title text.
Font styling options: Applies bold, italic, or underline styling to the title text. You can also specify a color for the title text.
Left: Aligns the chart title to the left side of the chart.
Center: Centers the chart title in the chart.
Right: Aligns the chart title to the right side of the chart.
Top: Positions the chart title at the top of the chart.
Bottom: Positions the chart title at the bottom of the chart.

Background Layer

The Background Layer settings control the appearance of the base map.

Use vector graphics: Enables tilt and optimized graphics. Use vector graphics is enabled by default for combo maps and connection maps.
Show in 3D view: Enables the map to be dragged and tilted in three dimensions. Show in 3D view is available only for combo maps and connection maps and is enabled by default.
Type: Sets the default map background: Map, Satellite with labels, Satellite. The Satellite with label type is available only when the Use vector graphics setting is enabled.
Style: Sets the color theme for the map. Use the report's current theme, or select one of the preset map styles. Style is available only when the Map type is selected. You can also create a custom map style .
Roads, Landmarks, Labels: Use the sliders to select the level of background details to display in the map background.

Layer Type

The Layer Type setting determines how locations on the map are shown. You can show locations in the following formats:

Bubbles
Filled areas
Line map
Connection map
Combo map
Heatmap

Default viewport

Sets the default location of the map's viewport, or inset.

To set a default viewport location, navigate to the chosen location and zoom level on the map chart. Under Default viewport in the style properties, select Set as default view to save the placement of the map's viewport.

When exploring the map, click the Reset viewport icon on the map chart to return to your default view.

If a map thumbnail and inset are displayed under Default viewport, a default viewport is already set for this map. To set a new default view, navigate the map to the new chosen location and zoom setting, and click Set as default view.

The Default viewport option is best used when the Allow pan and zoom map control option is enabled.

Bubble Layer

Max number of bubbles: Sets the maximum number of bubbles appearing on the map.
Slider control: Sets the relative size of the bubbles.
Opacity: Sets the opacity of the bubbles.
Border weight: Sets the thickness of the bubble borders.

Colors

The Colors setting lets you manage the bubble or filled area colors for specific values of Color dimension or Color metric fields:

If you have defined the Color dimension option in the setup properties, both the filled area and bubble layer map colors are managed in the Colors style property by selecting Manage dimension value colors.
If you have defined the Color metric option in the setup properties, you can define a color scale by selecting color values for the scale's maximum (Max color), middle (Mid color), and minimum (Min color). You can also specify a color to represent missing data (Dataless color).

Map Controls

The Map Controls settings let you select which interactive map view controls will be shown or hidden.

Allow tilt and rotation: Enables the map to be dragged and tilted in three dimensions. Allow tilt and rotation is available when the Use vector graphics Background Layer style property is enabled. This control is not available for combo maps or connection maps.
Allow pan and zoom: Lets viewers adjust the map display with their mouse and keyboard. Users can still tilt the map when Allow pan and zoom is disabled if the Allow tilt and rotation setting is enabled (or if the Show in 3D view setting is enabled for combo maps or connection maps).
Show zoom control: Shows the plus sign and minus sign buttons on the map to zoom in and out, respectively.
Show Street View control: Lets users display Street View images for supported locations.
Show fullscreen control: Lets users display the map in fullscreen view.
Show map type control : Lets users switch between map view and satellite view.
Show scale control: Lets users display the map scale in kilometers or miles.

Legends

Legends help your viewers understand the map by describing the colors and bubble sizes that are used.

The following legends are available:

A Size Legend describes the Size metric in bubble maps and the Thickness metric in connection maps.
A Color Legend describes the Color dimension or the Color metric. If your map specifies a Color dimension, the Color Legend uses distinct colors for each value. If your map specifies a Color metric, the Color Legend uses a color gradient.
A Weight Legend describes the Weight metric.
A Thickness Legend describes the Thickness metric that is used in a line map.
A Height Legend describes the height of the Additional Layer Metric that is used in a combo map.

For example, here is a bubble map that displays sports venue capacities for different NCAA basketball conferences:

A bubble map displays the NCAA venue_capacity metric by bubble size and represents the NCAA conf_name dimension with bubble color.

The map properties define the Color metric as venue_capacity, represented in the Size Legend by bubble size, and the Color dimension as conf_name, represented in the Color Legend by bubble color.

In another example, a filled area map of Spain and Portugal depicts the average time that a user spends on a page by their region:

A filled area map of Spain and Portugal with a color legend displays a gradient of purple to blue based on Avg. Time on Page metric values that range from 00:00:00 to 00:24:40.

The Color Legend displays a color gradient of time that is spent on a page based on the Avg. Time on Page metric.

Background and Border

The Background and Border options control the appearance of the chart background container.

Background: Sets the chart background color.
Border Radius: Adds rounded borders to the chart background. When the radius is 0, the background shape has 90° corners. A border radius of 100° produces a circular shape.
Opacity: Sets the chart opacity. 100% opacity completely hides objects behind the chart. 0% opacity makes the chart invisible.
Border Color: Sets the chart border color.
Border Weight: Sets the chart border line thickness.
Border Style: Sets the chart border line style.
Add border shadow: Adds a shadow to the chart's lower and right borders.

Chart Header

The Chart Header options let viewers perform various actions on the chart such as exporting the data or sorting the chart. The following chart header options are available:

Show on hover (default): Three vertical dots appear when you mouse over the chart header. Click these dots to access the header options.
Always show: The header options always appear.
Do not show: The header options never appear. Note that report viewers can always access the options by right-clicking the chart.
Color: Sets the color of the chart header options.

Configure a filled map

A filled map depicts your data as a shaded area. Here's a filled map that shows median house prices by US ZIP codes in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the median house price in each ZIP code is represented in shades of red and green:

A filled map displays median house prices by ZIP code in the San Francisco Bay Area in shades of green and red to convey values.