Modelon Solutions

A few weeks ago, I was demonstrating a self service BI solution we made for a client and how fun it was to use Excel to visualize the information.

Classic pivot tables or row reports could be used as a starting point, but the fun starts when using the power tools.

• Power Pivot can be used to achieve link data together in the data model, and to save that data directly in the excel file.
• Power Query can be used to add non structured data to the data model (that Power Pivot consumes) allowing you to mash data from different sources together.
• Power View can be used to create nice looking reports from the data model, and goes as far as being able to display that data on a map of the world.

But the latest “Power” tool to be announced from Microsoft, named “Power Maps” is different. It promises to show geographical data on 3d surfaces and tell stories. That sounds pretty cool but I wouldn’t have any way of playing with that right now.

It was released officially only a few weeks ago but is only available to clients if they are receiving there excel license through a enterprise office online subscription… That means that developers like me don’t even have access to the tool via their MSDN subscription and companies who are more traditional and buy licenses of Office “offline”. That very disappointing announcement can be found here.

I will try to find out more on this topic from Microsoft and post my findings here in the future…