Apply a style and symbology

You can use the ArcGIS for Power BI style tools to customize the appearance of your maps. See Symbol types to learn about smart mapping and default applied styles.

To apply or change the default style applied to the layer, also known as smart mapping, complete the following steps:

1. In the Layers pane, click the Symbology tab .
2. From the Active layer drop-down menu, choose the layer to modify.

   The default style currently applied to the layer is shown in the Symbol types section.

3. Add an attribute.

   Caution:

   If the layer you selected is a Buffer/Drive time layer, you cannot add an attribute.

   • If the layer you are modifying is an ArcGIS layer or joined layer, click Add field to select an attribute.

     Select an attribute from the drop-down menu that appears under the Add field button to represent it on the map.

     Tip:

     While you can represent both categorical and numeric attributes using Color on the map, only numeric attributes can be represented on the map by Size when using an ArcGIS layer or joined layer.
   • If the layer you are modifying is created from your Power BI data, add an attribute from the Data pane to ArcGIS for Power BI by clicking Visualizations > Build visual.

     Select attributes to include in the Size and Color fields. You can also add an attribute to the Time field to create a time-series visual.

     Tip:

     While both categorical and numeric attributes can be represented by either the Color and Size fields when using a layer created from your Power BI data, if you put a categorical attribute in the Size field, it will convert the attribute to a count of categories recorded by feature.

   Note:

   When working with ArcGIS layers or joined layers, selecting the Location symbol type will reset your attribute selection. Click Add field to manually re-add these fields.

4. Optionally, click Add field again to select another data attribute from the active layer or add another data attribute from the Data pane to the Build visual tab, repeating the previous step.

   Adding attributes places additional details from your data on the map. As you add attributes, the default symbol type (smart mapping style) applied to the active layer automatically updates. The type of data you add, such as numeric or categorical, and its category, such as Size or Color, determine the symbology options available and the default style applied. See Symbol types for more information.

5. Optionally, select a different style from the Symbol type drop-down menu.

   For help choosing a style, see Symbol types.

   Note:

   Only those options that logically apply to the active layer and the selected data attributes will appear on the Symbol type drop-down menu. For example, if the layer only contains geographic point coordinates, only Location or Heat map styles are listed. However, if you added categorical or numeric data attributes, you will see additional options, such as Types and size or Color.

6. Click the Style options tab to customize the appearance of the applied style.