--- schema_version: "1" id: 88ec47b681fda442b8bfc6431200811b8482323a4f07ea5e7a1a6d4ae786f18c title: Create Maps that Highlight Visual Clusters of Data in Tableau collection: tableau version: next locale: en-gb portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/maps_howto_pointdistribution.md canonical_url: https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/maps_howto_pointdistribution.htm source_site: help.tableau.com content_type: documentation content_hash: ae58eba1ef254f8970eb912392cc1a885e432ab37029dc96a4c48cbffaf7f549 description: Create point distribution maps that highlight visual clusters of data points. --- [Skip to main content](#main-content) # Create Maps that Highlight Visual Clusters of Data in Tableau You can create maps in Tableau Desktop that help you spot visual clusters, similar to the example below. These types of maps are called point distribution maps. Point distribution maps are great for showing the how locations of your data points are distributed. This topic illustrates how to create a point distribution map using an example. Follow the example in this topic to learn how to set up your data source, and build the view for a point distribution map. ![A map with point data points clustered in the Eastern United States.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/pointdistribution_maps1.png) ## Your data source To create a point distribution map, your data source should include the following types of information: - Latitude and longitude coordinates for all of your locations For example, the following table is a snippet of the Hail data source, which is included in the [Create Point Distribution Maps in Tableau Example Workbook](https://public.tableau.com/profile/tableau.docs.team#!/vizhome/CreatePointDistributionMapsinTableauExampleWorkbook/Hailstormmap) on Tableau Public. It contains columns for the latitude and longitude coordinates of hail storms across the United States from 1955 to the 2013.

Latitude	Longitude
32.2000	-101.5000
38.5800	-92.5800
41.2000	-89.6800
39.2800	-87.4000
41.7800	-87.7800
39.5000	-90.0800

## Basic map building blocks

Columns shelf:	Longitude (continuous dimension, longitude geographic role assigned)
Rows shelf:	Latitude (continuous dimension, latitude geographic role assigned)
Mark type:	Automatic

## Build the map view To follow along with this example, download the [Create Point Distribution Maps in Tableau Example Workbook](https://public.tableau.com/profile/tableau.docs.team#!/vizhome/CreatePointDistributionMapsinTableauExampleWorkbook/Hailstormmap) from Tableau Public, and open it in Tableau Desktop. 1. Open a new worksheet. 2. Ensure that the **Latitude** geographic role is assigned to your latitude field, and the **Longitude** geographic role is assigned to your longitude field. For more information, see [Assign a geographic role to a field](https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/maps_geographicroles.htm#AssignRole). 3. In the Data pane, double-click **Latitude** and **Longitude** to add them to the view. The Latitude and Longitude fields are added to the Columns and Rows shelves, and a map view with one data point is created. ![A map of the United States with a blue dot marking Missouri.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/pointdistribution_maps2.png) 4. On the Columns shelf, right-click **Longitude** and select Dimension. ![A dropdown menu with options to filter, format and change the dimension of the average longitude.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/pointdistribution_maps3.png) 5. On the Rows shelf, right-click **Latitude** and select Dimension. The map view updates with every location in your data source. **Note**: You might need to filter some data points from the view. 6. On the Marks card, click Size, and then move the slider to the left. ![Marks card size slider bar.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/pointdistribution_maps4.png) Your point distribution map is now complete. A data point for every location in your data source is now plotted on the map (minus any you filtered from the view). You can now see that a majority of hailstorms occur in the eastern half of the United States. ![A map of the United States with blue markers indicating data points.](/tableau/next/en-gb/pro/desktop/en-gb/Img/pointdistribution_maps5.png) ## See also: [Mapping Concepts in Tableau](https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/maps_build.htm) [Create Maps that Show Quantitative Values in Tableau](https://help.tableau.com/v0.0/pro/desktop/en-gb/maps_howto_symbol.htm)