How to Show Only One Country Map in Power BI

Power BI’s built-in map visual is great for showcasing global data, but sometimes it shows you the whole world when you just want to focus on a single country. This can clutter your report and distract from the specific regional story you’re trying to tell. This guide walks you through several methods to zoom in and display only one country on your Power BI map, from quick filters to clean, isolated shape maps.

Why Isolate a Single Country in Your Map?

Working with map visualizations is all about clarity. When your report is designed to analyze U.S. sales performance, forcing your audience to look at a world map with a small highlighted area in North America isn't ideal. Focusing on a single country map has a few key benefits:

Reduces Clutter: It removes irrelevant continents and oceans, making your dashboard look cleaner and more professional.
Improves Readability: By filling the visual's space with only the relevant country, smaller regions like states or provinces become larger and easier to see.
Focuses the Narrative: It directs your audience's attention entirely to the data that matters, reinforcing the story you want to tell about that specific region's performance.

By default, Power BI’s standard Map and Filled Map visuals are designed for global context, which is why they include a full world view. Our job is to tell Power BI to narrow its focus.

Method 1: Using Filters (The Quick and Easy Fix)

The simplest way to focus on one country is to filter your data. This method technically doesn't remove the rest of the world map - it just zooms the camera in so closely on your selected country that the other areas are out of view. It’s perfect for quick analyses or internal dashboards where a little user pan-and-zoom isn't a dealbreaker.

Here’s how to do it:

Add a Map Visual: Start by adding either the Map or Filled Map visual to your Power BI report canvas.
Add Your Data: Drag your geographic data field (e.g., Country, State, Province, City) into the Location well. Then drag the measure you want to visualize (e.g., Sales, Revenue, User Count) into the Bubble size (for the Map visual) or Color saturation (for the Filled Map visual) well.
Apply a Filter: With the map visual selected, go to the Filters pane. Drag your main country field (e.g., "Country") into the "Filters on this visual" section.
Select Your Country: Expand the new filter card. Under Filter type, choose "Basic filtering." A list of all countries in your dataset will appear. Check the box next to the one you want to display, like "United States" or "Canada."

Instantly, the map will automatically zoom in to fit that country on the screen. It works, it's fast, and it gets the job done for many use cases. The main drawback is that a curious user can still zoom out and pan around the rest of the empty world map.

Pro Tip: Lock the Zoom Level

To prevent users from zooming out, you can disable the zoom controls. This gives you a more static, locked-in view that feels more intentional.

Select your filtered map visual.
Go to the Format visual panel (the paintbrush icon).
Expand the Map settings section, then expand the Controls section.
Toggle Auto zoom to "Off." This will lock the current view.
Toggle Zoom buttons to "Off." This removes the "+" and "-" buttons from the map, preventing users from zooming in or out.

Now, your map is tightly focused on your selected country, creating a much cleaner experience for the end-user.

Method 2: Using a Shape Map (The Best Way for a Clean Look)

If you want a truly isolated map that shows only the country's outline and its internal regions (like states or provinces), the Shape Map visual is your best friend. Unlike the standard map which overlays data on a real-world tile map, the Shape Map visual uses defined vector boundaries. The result? A clean, stylized map with no distracting background continents or oceans.

The Shape Map is a preview feature, so you might need to enable it first.

How to Enable the Shape Map Visual

In Power BI Desktop, go to File > Options and settings > Options.
In the Global section, click on Preview features.
Check the box next to Shape map visual.
Click OK and restart Power BI Desktop. The Shape map icon (a shaded globe) will now appear in your Visualizations pane.

Creating a Single-Country Shape Map

Once enabled, here’s how to use it:

Add the Shape Map Visual: Add the newly-enabled Shape Map visual to your canvas.
Add Location and Saturation Data: Drag your regional data field (e.g., "State") to the Location well. Note that for built-in maps, you need to use a region level that matches one of the provided map keys, like states, provinces, or postal codes. We'll get to whole countries in a moment. Drag your numeric data (e.g., "Sales") to the Color saturation well.
Select the Correct Map: With the visual selected, go to Format visual > Map settings. Under the Map type dropdown, you’ll see a list of pre-defined maps (e.g., "USA: States," "Canada: Provinces," "Mexico: States," "Australia: States").
Choose Your Country's Map: Select the map that matches your data. For example, if your dataset contains US state-level sales, choosing "USA: States" will automatically generate a clean map showing only the United States, shaded by sales figures.

What If My Country Isn't on the List? Add a Custom Map!

Power BI's built-in shape list is limited. If you want to show a country that isn't included, like Brazil or India, you can provide your own map file in a format called TopoJSON.

Finding these files is easier than it sounds. A quick web search for "[Country Name] topojson map free download" will usually yield plenty of results from an open-source map community such as this helpful Github repo, with files that define country outlines and their internal administrative regions.

Here’s how to add a custom file:

Download the .json TopoJSON file for your desired country.
In your Shape Map visual, navigate back to Format visual > Map settings.
Under Map type, click the + Add map button.
Locate and select the TopoJSON file you just downloaded. It will be added to your dropdown list and render a clean map of that country. Make sure your location-based data labels (e.g., provinces, regions) correctly match with the properties defined with the TopoJSON map.

The Shape Map method takes a few extra steps but delivers a far more professional and polished result for single-country reporting.

Final Tips for Perfecting Your Country Map

Whichever method you choose, a few simple best practices can make your map visualizations even better.

Always Set the Data Category

Help Power BI understand your geographic data by categorizing it correctly. This avoids ambiguity, where a name could refer to multiple places (like Paris, Texas).

In the Data view, select a location column (like "City," "State," or "Country"). Go to the Column tools tab at the top and open the Data category dropdown. Select the appropriate category. This drastically improves Power BI's geocoding accuracy.

Use Hierarchies for Drill-Down

If you have data at multiple levels (Country > State > City), you can create a hierarchy in the Data pane. Drag the more specific fields onto the more general ones to create a group. Then, you can use the little drill-down arrows on your map visual to explore different levels of detail.

Be Mindful of Colors

In the Format visual pane, go to Fill colors (for Filled Maps) or Bubbles (for Maps) to customize the colors. Use intuitive color gradients to represent your data - for instance, a light-to-dark gradient where darker colors mean higher values. Avoid using too many distinct colors, which can make the map hard to read.

Final Thoughts

Focusing your Power BI map on a single country is a small change that can make a huge impact on your reports. Whether you use a quick filter for a fast analysis or configure a crisp Shape Map for a presentation-ready dashboard, the goal is always the same: to present your data with clarity and focus, making it easier for anyone to understand.

Ultimately, data visualization tools are about getting to insights with less friction. Instead of spending time clicking through format panes and searching for custom map files, we built Graphed to simplify the entire process. After securely connecting your data sources, you can just ask our AI data analyst to create what you need using plain English. A request like, "Show me a map of our total sales by state for the last quarter" instantly gives you the visual you're looking for, without forcing you to become a Power BI settings expert first.