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Tableau | Data visualisation

Map layer controls: New in Tableau 2021.2

Tableau 2021.2 lets you hand users control over map layers, and you can even persist those settings in custom views.

Tim Ngwena •27 June 2021 •1 min read •8 min watch •3.4K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2021.2

Watch on YouTube

Map layer controls appear automatically once you add a second layer by dragging a geometry or mapping field into the view, and they're enabled by default for authors
The control gives two options per layer: a tick box to show or hide the layer, and a lock to stop interaction so you can select elements underneath it
Authors can switch the whole control off via Map > Map options > Layer Control, but cannot lock individual layers from being unlocked by users
Layer controls are great for accessibility and progressive storytelling, such as disabling decade-by-decade layers to show change over time
On Tableau Server or Online the settings reset on each visit unless saved into a customised view, which persists your chosen layer state as a default

0:00Hey, Tim here. In 2021.2 Tableau have added

0:05the ability to give users the ability to

0:08control

0:08map layers. Essentially, this is a control

0:10that appears whenever you've got map layers

0:13enabled. Now, what I'm actually using here

0:15is a visualization I built in another video

0:17where I was talking about the area

0:18calculations. If you want to see how to

0:20build this, go to

0:21that video. It's literally probably just

0:23been published before this one. But

0:24nevertheless,

0:25I'm going to use this as a starting point

0:26for this feature. Now, what I'm going to do

0:28here is enable map layers. Now map layers

0:31were introduced in, I think in two versions

0:33ago. So you were able to basically layer

0:35maps onto each other. And what I'm enabling

0:37you

0:38to do is to bring lots of different levels

0:39of context, the way you enable that is to

0:41simply drag the geometry field into the

0:44visualization. Again, any other mapping

0:46field will also work.

0:48And as soon as you drop it in, it adds a

0:49layer capability there, you can see it went

0:51orange

0:52there. And actually the new function

0:54appears straight away. This is actually on

0:56by default,

0:57if you're building any mapping layers for

0:59users as an author, be aware that this

1:01comes

1:01enabled by default. So you'll see the map

1:04control is now available there. It's sort

1:06of this little layered icon. And when you

1:09click on it, you actually get two sets of

1:11controls. On the right hand side, you've

1:13got the ability to switch on and switch off

1:15a

1:15specific layer using this tick box and on

1:17the left, you get the ability to lock that

1:19layer. Locking essentially stops you from

1:22interacting with it and ticking the little

1:25sort of square sort of hides it and enables

1:27it. So think of it as an enabled and

1:29disabled

1:30and then stop it from interacting and so on

1:32and so forth. You do get handy hints as you

1:34hover over these as well. So don't worry

1:36too much if you sort of don't remember this

1:38. So

1:38if I just go ahead here and disable this

1:40geometry to you'll see that I get the color

1:43back because

1:43essentially the geometry to was another

1:46layer on top. And it's sort of been stopped

1:48from

1:48showing up now because I've disabled it. If

1:51I take that again, you'll see that it comes

1:53back and actually when I hover over this,

1:55you'll see that the whole thing gets

1:56selected

1:57because you can see everything go black.

1:59Now if I lock this, we'll see that that no

2:01longer

2:01works because my selection is sort of going

2:03through the object that's not working at

2:05all

2:06on that layer. So now you can see I can

2:08select the underneath element in the

2:10visualization,

2:11which is sort of kind of cool. Now, the

2:13other thing you can do is you can lock

2:15everything

2:16and everything's there. But as an author,

2:19you don't have control as to whether

2:21someone

2:22can enable this or can't enable this. So

2:24you can't for example, say, never let a

2:26user unlock

2:26or unlock a specific layer, they just get

2:29all the controls or none at all. If you

2:31want

2:31to disable this for your users, you can of

2:33course do this. If you just go up here to

2:35the top and select map, then you go to Map

2:37options. I know I get confused between

2:39those

2:39two and you'll see here, there's actually

2:41Oh, it's disappeared when I've selected my

2:43little cursor. So I have to do this with

2:45that cursor. So if I just go to Map layers,

2:48actually

2:48Map options, not Map layers, sort of

2:50confusing having so many things using the

2:52same name.

2:53So let's try this again, Map options. And

2:55you can see the layer control is the second

2:57one here on the tip. So now if I tick that,

3:00you'll see that that little square

3:01disappears.

3:02And that now reappears. So that's basically

3:04where we are, you've of course got the

3:06other

3:06controls there, this is just sort of

3:08getting bigger now that we can do different

3:10things

3:10with our visualization. But fundamentally,

3:13layer controls is really, really handy. And

3:15you can use this in lots of sort of use

3:17cases to give users a bit more control. I

3:19actually

3:19think this is important for accessibility,

3:21I think users should have the ability to

3:23choose

3:23this. So I think it makes authors have to

3:25think more critically about the layers they

3:27're

3:27enabling and what they're sort of letting

3:30users do. And also, I think it just adds

3:32another

3:32dynamic that if you're able to sort of

3:35instruct your users through how to use this

3:37effectively,

3:38they can also start telling their own

3:40stories by slowly or progressively

3:42disabling or enabling

3:43certain layers. So you could have a

3:45visualization that starts off with one

3:47layer that covers

3:48everything and then as you disable layers,

3:50you mainly have a progression through a

3:52range

3:52of different things. And so you could for

3:55example, use this to show deforestation,

3:57where

3:57each layer is a different decade and you

3:59can slowly disable and show these layers

4:01over

4:02time. So that's just an idea. I haven't got

4:04an example data to sort of work with. But

4:06nevertheless, I think this feature is

4:07really, really cool and you should check it

4:09out. Hey,

4:10Tim, I just I'm sad it's in this video and

4:12I forgot to show one final feature. And

4:14that's

4:14what happens when you publish a map layer

4:17control enabled visualization to Tableau

4:19server

4:20or Tableau online. So here I've got the

4:22exact same visualization. If I hit on the

4:24map layer

4:25control, you can see that I have that

4:26available to me. Now one of the nice things

4:28is when

4:29we publish this up to Tableau server and

4:31Tableau online, you can actually save those

4:34settings

4:35in a customized view. So it doesn't

4:37remember it as you sort of interact with

4:39things, it

4:39will reset it every time you revisit the

4:41vis. But if you have a customized view

4:43created,

4:43you can actually save these presets. So I'm

4:46going to publish this to my 2020 dot one

4:48hyphen

4:48two folder here. I'm just going to call it

4:50book one. I'm just trying to get this done

4:53so I can get this video up. And once this

4:54is published, it's going to open up a

4:56browser

4:57window. And we're going to take a look at

4:58it and we're going to try and customize

5:00view.

5:01Okay, so we have a customized view here

5:04loading, I just brought it in from my other

5:06screen.

5:07If I just go back to my browser here, you

5:08'll see that this has now been published.

5:10And

5:10this is working nicely. There's no custom

5:13views here. So we're just going to go back

5:15to the visualization, go into sheet one.

5:17And here we have the visualization that we

5:20just

5:20built in desktop. Now what I want to do

5:23though, is I want to get this layer control

5:26set up.

5:26So what I'm going to do is I'm going to des

5:28elect geometry two, just to check that that

5:30's working

5:30here in the browser. And you can see you

5:32get an information icon saying animations

5:35or pause

5:35because this is a complex viz. That alert

5:38is actually also a new feature in a

5:39previous

5:40version of Tableau. Now what I'm going to

5:42do here is I'm going to create a customized

5:44view. And you do that by going to this

5:46option just here where it says view

5:48original. And

5:49I have this enabled. If you can't see this,

5:51this is because the author of the

5:52visualization

5:53has disabled that in the permissions. If

5:55you can't see that, that's just because it

5:57's been

5:58disabled. It's not that you don't have

6:00access to it. So now I can name this view,

6:02I can

6:02call this Tim's view. Okay. And I can make

6:05it my default. So every time I come to this

6:08visualization that remembers that setting,

6:10okay. And I'm going to save this. And now

6:13I've saved Tim's view, it remembered that

6:14setting that I created previously. And we

6:16're

6:16just going to check that now that this is

6:18done. If we go to map layer controls, you

6:20'll

6:20see the geometry is disabled. Now I'm going

6:23to go back to the 2021.2 folder. So I've

6:25completely

6:26left the visualization, I'm going to go

6:28back into book one, and I'm going to go

6:30back into

6:30sheet one. And two things will happen, it

6:32will take me to my customized view, because

6:34I set that as my default. The way I know

6:36that from the get go is that if you see

6:38here, it

6:39says view Tim's and not view original. And

6:42I can see here that the map layer control

6:44is also disabled. So it's remember that

6:46setting, if I go to the top, and I switch

6:48the original

6:49view, which is just here at the bottom, if

6:51I click on that, and just go to that, and

6:54you'll see that actually that map layer

6:55control comes back. And it remembers

6:57whatever was

6:58the default that the author set. So if you

7:00go back on there, you can see that that's

7:01now ticked. So that's just a nice to know

7:04feature map layer controls can be persisted

7:07in custom views, it's just remembers the

7:09setting and you're pretty much good to go.

7:11That's

7:11all I wanted to add. That's pretty much it.

7:13And if you've enjoyed this video, you know

7:14what to do. Let me know in the comments

7:16below. And let other people know and be

7:18sure to check

7:19out all the other videos in 2021.2 as well

7:21as the videos on the channel on Tableau

7:23functions

7:24and lots of different things that I try and

7:25explain for people who are just getting

7:27started

7:27All right.

Rollup

Tableau 2021.2 adds a control that lets viewers show, hide and lock individual map layers themselves, rather than authors baking in one fixed view. This is worth knowing because it changes how you design layered maps for accessibility and for guided, progressive storytelling.

Built on a map visualisation that already has multiple layers (e.g. two geometry fields) on one sheet. The control appears automatically once a second map layer exists, so no separate setup step is needed to trigger it.

The Breakdown

Add a second map layer 0:29

Drag a geometry or other mapping field into an existing map view to create an additional layer. As soon as a second layer exists, the map layer control appears automatically and is enabled by default for anyone viewing the visualisation.
Show, hide and lock layers 1:16

Click the layered icon to reveal two controls per layer: a tick box that shows or hides it, and a lock that stops interaction with that layer. Locking a layer is what lets you select or hover over the elements underneath it instead of the layer on top.
Switch the control off as an author 2:31

If you don't want users touching layers at all, go to Map > Map options and untick Layer Control. Note the limitation: you can only turn the whole control on or off — you can't lock individual layers so only some can be toggled while others can't.
Use it for accessibility and progressive stories 3:15

Giving users layer control is a genuine accessibility win, and it pushes you as author to think harder about what each layer should let people do. One idea: build a map where layers represent stages (e.g. successive decades) and let disabling them one by one reveal change over time — a technique for progressive storytelling rather than a required step.
Publish and check default behaviour 4:10

On Tableau Server or Online, layer control settings do not persist between visits by default — the view resets to its original state each time someone opens it.
Persist a layer state with a custom view 5:40

To make chosen layer settings stick, create a custom view (via the 'view original' menu) after setting layers how you want them, name it, and optionally mark it as your default. This only works if custom views are enabled by the author in the permissions; if you can't see the option, it's been switched off, not a lack of access.

Worth Knowing

Authors can disable the whole layer control but can't restrict which individual layers users are allowed to lock or unlock — it's all or nothing.
Settings don't persist on Server/Online unless saved as a custom view; otherwise the visualisation reverts to its original layer state on every visit.
A complex visualisation with many layers may trigger a separate 'pause animations' alert, which is an unrelated existing Tableau feature, not part of layer control itself.

Use It When

Reach for this when you're publishing a multi-layer map and want viewers to explore or declutter context themselves, or when you want to guide them through a narrative by progressively revealing or hiding layers.

How this Rollup was made provenance & method

A Rollup is drafted by AI from the video's transcript, then reviewed and edited by Tim. Everything used to produce this one is listed below — the model, the exact prompt, and the source video — so the process is transparent and reproducible.

Transcription: On-device — NVIDIA Parakeet v3 for recent videos, OpenAI Whisper large-v3 for earlier ones. The transcript never leaves the machine or gets published.
Drafting: Claude Sonnet 5 in the cloud, from that transcript.
Prompt: The exact Rollup prompt (v2) — the full system prompt, unedited.
Source video: Watch on YouTube
Drafted: 5 July 2026 at 09:38
Reviewed & edited: 5 July 2026 at 09:41 · by Tim Ngwena

Model + prompt + video is everything you'd need to recreate a Rollup like this yourself. The one thing we don't share is the transcript.

Rights. The video and its transcript are the property of TN Media Ltd. Unauthorised use or download is prohibited. © TN Media Ltd.