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Converting UK postcodes to latitude and longitude in Power BI |
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A series of steps that you can follow to convert UK format postcodes into latitude and longitude data for use in Power BI Desktop visuals. |
In this blog
Suppose that you have a table of data which includes a UK postcode for each data point, but not (alas) the latitude and longitude:
We have some way of identifiying where eachg shopping centre is, but Power BI maps (being American) may not recognise this.
This blog shows one way to convert this data into latitudes and longitudes: simply follow the 7 steps listed below in order.
I can't promise that this is the only - or even the most efficient way - to do this, and it would obviously be better not to have the problem in the first place (perhaps by modifying your data capture routine to include the latitude and longitude for each data point?).
Start by copying your postcodes from Power BI:
While viewing your table, right-click on the column of postcodes to copy it.
Now go to a site like the UK Grid Reference Finder and paste in your column of data:
Choose to paste in your postcodes.
You can now convert them:
Click on this button to convert your data.
You may get some errors at this point:
You'll probably have to inspect these individually later.
Copy the converted data:
The converted data includes the latitude and longitude for each postcode found.
In Power BI, choose to enter data:
Click on this tool to enter some data.
An empty table will appear:
This is ready for pasting!
Right-clicking isn't supported here, so press Ctrl + V to paste in your converted postcode data:
Power BI loads the converted data - you might want to change the table name from the default Table before choosing to Edit this data.
You now need to get your data in a usable state. Firstly, remove any unconverted rows:
Click on the drop arrow to the right of the Latitude or Longitude columns and remove empty rows from them.
In practice what you might want to do first is to right-click on the table in Query Editor to duplicate it, then use one copy to get the clean data and another to show the rows you need to inspect because their postcodes haven't been found.
You should now also remove any duplicate postcodes found:
Right-click on the Postcode column and remove any duplicates you inadvertently included in your original data (it's vital to do this, otherwise you won't be able to create a one-to-many relationship between your postcode table and shopping centre table).
You can now load this data into Power BI Desktop.
You can now link your original shopping centre table to the postcode table that you've created:
Drag the Postcode field from your orignal table onto the table you've just loaded.
You should now get a one-to-many relationship!
Each postcode can (potentially) have lots of centres in it.
You now need to tell Power BI that your latitude and longitude columns contain latitude and longitude!
In Data view, click on each of the two columns and change their data category using this dropdown.
You can now use your data to create visuals like this one:
An Azure map showing sales by latitude and longitude.
Here are the fields this uses:
The latitude and longitude come from our converted postcodes table.
You're now good to go!
Some other pages relevant to the above blog include:
Kingsmoor House
Railway Street
GLOSSOP
SK13 2AA
Landmark Offices
99 Bishopsgate
LONDON
EC2M 3XD
Holiday Inn
25 Aytoun Street
MANCHESTER
M1 3AE
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