Format Pane Settings

Once catalog layers are configured via the dialog, several settings are exposed in the Power BI formatting pane under the Catalog card. These let report authors make runtime adjustments without reopening the catalog dialog — and many support conditional formatting for dynamic, data-driven behaviour.

Catalog Card

The Catalog card in the formatting pane contains the following settings:

Configure Layers

A toggle that opens the catalog dialog. Use this to add, edit, reorder, or remove layers.

Per-Layer Settings

For each configured layer (up to 10), the following settings appear:

Setting Type Conditional Formatting Description
Layer Visible Yes / No — Show or hide this layer on the map.
Filter 1–5 Text ✓ Override filter values set in the dialog. Bind to a measure or slicer to make filters dynamic.
Color Data Field Text ✓ Override which property drives the fill gradient.
Extrusion Data Field Text ✓ Override which property drives extrusion height.
Fill Color Colour picker ✓ Override the fill colour (single-colour fill with data binding only).
Outline Color Colour picker ✓ Override the outline colour (single-colour outline with data binding only).
Extrusion Height Number ✓ Override the fixed extrusion height (data binding only).
Z Index Text — Override layer stacking order.

Conditional Formatting

Settings marked with ✓ support Power BI conditional formatting. This means you can bind a setting to:

  • A field — the setting value comes from a column in your data.
  • A measure — the setting value is calculated by a DAX measure.
  • Rules — the setting value varies based on rules you define.

This is particularly powerful for filters — bind a filter value to a slicer or measure to dynamically control which features are visible on the map. For example:

  1. Add a catalog layer showing all UK postcodes.
  2. Set Filter 1 property to region.
  3. In the formatting pane, bind Filter 1's value to a slicer connected to a Region column.
  4. When the user selects "London" in the slicer, only London postcodes appear on the map.

Fill and Outline Overrides

Fill Color and Outline Color overrides are available only when:

  • The layer uses single-colour fill or outline mode.
  • Data binding is configured for the layer.

These overrides apply per matched feature when conditional formatting is used — allowing you to colour individual features from your Power BI data.

Extrusion Overrides

The Extrusion Height override is available only when:

  • The layer has extrusion enabled.
  • Data binding is configured.

This lets you drive 3D heights from a Power BI measure — for example, extruding regions by revenue or population.

Filter Overrides

Each catalog layer supports up to 5 filters (Filter 1–5). Filters are initially configured in the catalog dialog (see Visibility & Filters), where you choose a property and operator. The filter value, however, can be overridden at runtime from the formatting pane — and crucially, each filter value supports conditional formatting.

This means you can bind a filter value to:

  • A column — the filter value comes from a field in your data model.
  • A measure — the filter value is calculated dynamically by a DAX measure.
  • A slicer — indirectly, by using a measure that reads the slicer selection.

Example: Dynamic Region Filtering

Suppose you have a catalog layer showing all regions of a country, with a filter configured on the region_type property using the equals operator:

  1. In the formatting pane, find the layer's Filter 1 setting.
  2. Click the fx (conditional formatting) button next to the filter value.
  3. Bind it to a column or measure — for example, a measure that returns the selected value from a Region Type slicer.
  4. Now when the report viewer picks "Metropolitan" in the slicer, only metropolitan regions appear; when they pick "Rural", only rural regions show.

Example: Threshold-Based Filtering

You can also use a DAX measure to compute a filter value:

  1. Create a measure like SelectedThreshold = SELECTEDVALUE(Thresholds[Level], "all").
  2. Bind Filter 1's value to this measure via conditional formatting.
  3. The map dynamically filters features based on the current slicer or parameter selection.

Multiple Filters

Filters are combined with AND logic — all active filters must match for a feature to appear. You can bind each of the 5 filters independently, giving you fine-grained dynamic control over which features are visible.