Introduction
I noticed this map from Visual Capitalist the other day. I like the idea of showing elevation using height, but since it’s a state average, it seems weird to show the spacial area of the state. I decided to try to make a tile map with the same information. While we could just use color to indicate elevation, it’s ok to double-encode when we want to emphasize something.
Your challenge is to create a “3D” tile map of average elevation of U.S. States. You can use whatever visual and technique you want to create the map.
Dataset
This week’s data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2011/compendia/statab/131ed/tables/12s0366.pdf.
Requirements
1. Retrieve the data from https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2011/compendia/statab/131ed/tables/12s0366.pdf. You can try to extract the data using Power Query or just copy and paste into Power BI Desktop.
2. Create a tile map (map in which each region is represented by a single tile of the same shape and size) of the US states. Be sure to include Hawaii and Alaska. You can choose the shape of your tile.
3. Set the fill (background color) of each tile to indicate the elevation.
4. Design the tiles so they effectively have height to also indicate elevation.
5. Add a tooltip that shows the state and the average elevation when a users hovers on a tile.
Share
After you finish your workout, share on BlueSky or LinkedIn using the hashtags #WOW2026 and #PowerBI, and tag @MMarie, @shan_gsd, @KerryKolosko (on BlueSky).