Map layer controls: New in Tableau 2021.2

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.