Tag: Troubleshooting configuration Virtual Map View

Issue:

You are displaying data in Virtual Map View v10.9.42.2013 using the Bing map provider. You have configured the map to display locations in groups of 15.

When you view the map, you see the first 15 locations, but you don’t see any way to go to the next page of locations. Page navigation should appear next to the Navigation drop down in the lower left corner of the page.

Resolution.

Although the locations are displayed, the Page Navigation will not be displayed if a column hasn’t been configured for each of the geocoding parameters. For example, the screen shot here shows no column selected for Address. When this is the case, no Page Navigation will be displayed.

To display the Page Navigation, be sure a column is configured for Address, City, State/Province, and Country/Region.

NOTE: The columns configured for each geocoding parameter do NOT need to contain data. The column values may be blank.

Issue:

You are plotting locations based on Address information and one of the markers appears in the wrong place.

See the example below where we are using Bing^TM Maps to display baseball fields in the USA. The marker for the Seattle Mariners appears in Africa, but the City and State values are Seattle and WA respectively. Why doesn’t it show up in Washington state in the USA?

NOTE: Depending on the data you are trying to display, this may occur when using Google^TM maps as well.

Resolution:

There are a few things you can try when you see an issue like this with the Virtual Map View:

1. One thing to note about this map display scenario is that we are passing City and State without additional information such as Address (street) or Country to the Map Provider. As you can see, this works for most of the markers.

   If we add Country and don’t change the map provider, the Seattle Mariners will appear where they should. In other words, in this scenario the Bing^TM mapping service needed a little more information in order to locate Safeco Field properly.

IMPORTANT: Unless all the geocoding parameters are mapped, only 20 locations will be mapped if using the Bing^TMmap provider. The Google^TM map provider doesn’t have this limitation in SP2013. All locations will be plotted on the Google map with partial geocoding parameters.

NOTE: If you are using SP2010 with either the Bing^TM or Google^TM map provider, ALL geocoding parameters are required in order for any data to be displayed.

2. The available Map Providers (i.e., Google^TM and Bing^TM) use different geocoding algorithms and sometimes one works better than the other for particular datasets. For example, with the same original dataset (that does NOT include Country), the Google^TM map provider puts the Seattle Mariners Safeco Field in the right location:

3. If you have latitude and longitude information for your locations, the map providers can plot those rather than try to geocode the address information you provide. This will probably result in the most accurate display, regardless of the Map Provider. It will also result in the quickest display since the mapping provider doesn’t need to geocode first; this saves processing time.

   IMPORTANT: If you configure the web part with a column value for Latitude and Longitude, only the items with values in those columns will be plotted on the map – even if you have also configured your web part with address information. It is not currently possible to have some markers plotted using the address information and some with the Latitude and Longitude.

Issue

You have 30 locations to plot on the map. When the page loads, you see the message in the lower left corner of the map showing the progress of the data load. It loads pretty fast, but stops when it gets to 20. The last 10 locations don’t load.

You are displaying locations in SP2013 v10.9.42.2013 and using the Bing^TM Map Provider.

Resolution

Although some locations are displayed, no more than 20 will be displayed if a column hasn’t been configured for each of the geocoding parameters. For example, the screen shot here shows no column selected for Address. When this is the case, only the first 20 locations will be displayed.

To display all the locations, be sure a column is configured for Address, City, State/Province, and Country/Region.

NOTE: The columns configured for each geocoding parameter do NOT need to contain data. The column values may be blank.

This is not a requirement if using the Google^TM map provider in SP2013.

Issue

You configured the Virtual Map View as the instructions describe, but you don’t see any data. You are using SharePoint 2010, release 10.9.53. You’ve tried both Bing^TM and Google ^TM map providers; you have the same issue with both.

Resolution

Unless you are using Longitude and Latitude, the SharePoint 2010 version of the Virtual Map View (release 10.9.53), requires that a column be mapped to each geocoding parameter (i.e., Address, City, State, and Country) in the tool pane. If you leave one un-mapped, no data will display.

IMPORTANT: You don’t need to have values for each of the mapped columns, but the column mapping needs to be configured in the Virtual Map View tool pane. For example, often the Map Provider used will be able to geocode a location without the street or country information.

NOTE: This is not necessarily an issue with SP2013. Locations will be mapped if just City and State are configured. However, page navigation in SP2013 will not be displayed if some geocoding parameters are not mapped. Also, if using Bing^TM maps in SP2013, only the first 20 locations will be mapped unless all the geocoding parameters are mapped.