3D models

New in 1.1.0.12

The 3D Models layer draws a glTF model at each longitude and latitude: vehicles at a depot, aircraft in the sky, wind turbines on a hillside. Pick the models in the model picker, and let your data turn, raise, size, color and animate each one. Models can be selected, show tooltips and cross-highlight the report like any other layer.

What you need

That is all the layer needs. There is no model field well: with the layer on, every point row is drawn as the default model you pick. To draw a different model on each row, use conditional formatting on Model. See A model for each row.

These fields must be empty on a model's rows: Destination Longitude, Destination Latitude, Feature Reference, Heatmap Weight and Cell (H3/S2/A5/Geohash) Weight. Image / WKT / GeoJSON must be empty too, unless Model is set by a field. See Which rows become models.

The layer needs the Modern engine. On the Legacy engine its switch is unavailable. See Modern and Legacy engines.

Add models to the map

1. Add fields to * ID (required), Longitude (X) and Latitude (Y). Set the coordinates to Average.
2. In the Format pane, expand Layer Manager, switch on Open Layer Manager, and select Add a layer, Data layer, 3D models. If the panel What kind of map are you making? is showing, you can select its 3D models tile instead.
3. Set the options under Style and options, select Add to map, then Apply changes.
4. Select the 3D models row in the Layer Manager, then Choose models. The model picker opens.
5. Pick one or more models, star the one every row draws by default, and select Apply changes.
6. Tilt the map to see the models from the side.

In the Format pane, the same switch is Data Layers > Data Layers > 3D Models, and 3D Models - Models > Choose models opens the picker. Until you choose a model, every row draws a car.

Turning the layer on gives it the rows that Circles, Images and icons and 3D columns would otherwise draw. See Which rows become models.

Choose models

The model picker holds the models of the layer. It opens from Choose models in the Format pane or from the Layer Manager.

• 3D models in this layer lists the models the layer can draw. A layer with no models yet offers a few to start with: vehicles, an aircraft, a wind turbine, a mast and a substation. The star marks the Default model, which every row draws unless it picks another. Select Make default to move the star.
• Add models opens the sources:
  • Icon Map Catalog - search the catalog's 3D models, for example "bus stop" or "crane", or browse them by category.
  • Organization - models your organization publishes to an organizational catalog in Icon Map for Fabric. Sign in with your work account to see the ones shared with you.
  • From a link - paste the https:// link to a .glb file and select Load model. Choose from OneLake picks a .glb file in a Fabric lakehouse. See Files in OneLake.
• Each model shows in a preview that you can drag to turn and scroll to zoom. It is turned the way the map draws it at heading 0.
• Values in your data matches the values of the Model field to models. See A model for each row.

Nothing is saved until you select Apply changes. The picker saves only which models the layer uses: conditional formatting on Model, Heading and the other settings is kept.

When Airgapped Environment is on, the picker offers From a link only. See Power BI Report Server (on-premises).

Models from a link

A model from a link must be:

• A self-contained .glb file (glTF 2.0), up to 25 MB, over https://.
• On a server that allows other sites to load it (CORS). When it does not, the picker says so.
• Not compressed with Draco, meshopt or KTX2. A file that uses them is refused with a message.

Everyone who views the report loads the file from its server. If the file moves, the model disappears from the map. Models from the Icon Map Catalog and your organizational catalog are not affected.

Calibrate a model

Models from the Icon Map Catalog are already set up to face the right way at their real size. For a model from a link or from your organization, Calibrate in the picker sets:

For a catalog model the same panel is named Fine-tune. Change it only if the model looks wrong on the map. Reset returns a model to its original setup. Calibration belongs to the model, so every row that draws it is turned and sized the same way.

A model for each row

Leave Model empty and every row draws the default model. To choose a model per row:

1. In Format pane > Data Layers > 3D Models - Models, select fx next to Model.
2. Choose Field value and a field, for example a Vehicle Type column. The field does not need to be in a field well.
3. Open the model picker. Values in your data lists each value with the number of rows, and the model it draws. Pick a model for each value, or select Match by name to match values to models with similar names, such as "HGV lorry" to a lorry.

A row's value picks its model in this order:

1. A value you matched in Values in your data.
2. The name of a model in the layer, in any case.
3. A link to a .glb file.
4. Otherwise, the default model.

A row whose Model value is blank is not a model. It is left to the other layers, so the same table can draw some rows as models and others as circles or icons.

Which rows become models

While the 3D Models layer is on, a point row (a row with Longitude (X) and Latitude (Y), and none of the fields of lines, shapes, cells or heatmaps) is drawn as:

A row with a Circle Size value is drawn as a model, and the value sizes the model. Column Height is not read on a model row.

One row is one layer. To show a circle and a model at the same place, use two rows.

Size

Size in decides what a size means:

The size of each row comes from:

• Model height (fx), when it has a value. The model is scaled to exactly that height, in Height units. Bind a hub height or a building height and every model stands at its real height. A blank or 0 value uses the size below.
• Otherwise the Circle Size field, read as set by Size Behavior:
  • Explicit - the value is the size.
  • Relative - the smallest value in your data gets Minimum Size, the largest gets Maximum Size, and the rest are scaled in between.
• Otherwise Size, for rows without a Circle Size value.

Keep models easy to find

Real-size models soon get too small to see as you zoom out: a car is a fraction of a pixel on a map of a whole country. With Scale models with zoom off, the default, models in meters are never drawn smaller on screen than Minimum size in pixels (12 by default), so they stay easy to find. Turn Scale models with zoom on to draw them at their true size at every zoom.

Height and terrain

Sit on terrain decides what Height above ground is measured from:

• The height takes conditional formatting (fx), so an altitude field can raise each model. Height units sets Meters or Feet for the height and for Model height.
• With 3D terrain exaggerated, a height above sea level is multiplied by the same exaggeration, so an aircraft at 300 meters stays above a 250 meter hill.
• With no 3D terrain, both choices measure from sea level.
• When the terrain loads after the models, the models move onto the ground as its tiles arrive.

See Terrain, hillshade, sky and lighting. Models are lit by the map's Light settings, like 3D columns and 3D buildings.

Turn, pitch and roll

Heading, Pitch and Roll take conditional formatting (fx), so a field such as a vehicle's bearing or an aircraft's attitude can turn each model. They are applied in the order an aircraft uses: heading, then pitch, then roll, so flight data lands the right way up.

Color and animation

• Color models off keeps each model's own colors. Turn it on to tint every model with Color. Color takes conditional formatting (fx), so a measure can color each model, for example by status.
• Play animations plays the animations built into a model, such as a turbine's rotor. Models without animations are not affected.

Animation speed takes conditional formatting (fx), so a field such as wind speed can drive it. Animation speed behavior decides how the value is read:

Up to 200 rows of each model play their animation. The rest are drawn still, and the Format pane says how many.

Selection, tooltips and zoom

• Selection. Click a model to select its row and cross-filter or cross-highlight the report page. Hold Ctrl to add to the selection. The lasso selects models where they are drawn on screen, so an aircraft in a tilted view is selected by drawing round it. Models that are not selected fade to Unselected Items Transparency in Format pane > Interactivity. When another visual highlights rows, the models use Cross-Highlighted Items Transparency and Unhighlighted Items Transparency. See Selection, cross-filtering and highlighting.
• Tooltips. Pointing at a model shows the fields in Tooltips. Set Include Tooltip to No to turn tooltips off. See Tooltips.
• Zoom. Auto zoom, Zoom to Selected Items and Zoom to Cross-Highlighted Items frame every model at its height, so aircraft in the sky stay on screen. Set Include in Zoom to No to leave the models out.
• Labels. Models do not carry data labels.

Settings

All of these are in Format pane > Data Layers, shown when the 3D Models switch is on. Settings marked fx accept conditional formatting.

3D Models - Models

A model that cannot be drawn is named in this group, with the reason.

3D Models - Size and placement

3D Models - Orientation

3D Models - Color and animation

3D Models - Interaction and visibility

In the Layer Manager

Select the 3D models row in the Layer Manager to change:

• Size and placement - Size in, Size Behavior, Size, Scale models with zoom, Sit on terrain and Turn models by.
• Color and animation - Color models, Color and Play animations.
• Interaction - Allow Selection, Include Tooltip and Visible at zoom.

Choose models opens the model picker. Heading, size and the other values per row are set with conditional formatting in the Format pane. See Edit, reorder and remove layers.

Tips and limits

• Cannot see the models? Real-size models are small on a map of a large area. Keep Scale models with zoom off, raise Size, or zoom in. Tilt the map to see them from the side.
• A model faces the wrong way. Calibrate it in the model picker, so every row that draws it is fixed. Turn models by turns every model in the layer instead.
• A model draws nothing. The Format pane names the model and the reason, for example a server that does not allow the file to be read, or a file compressed with Draco.
• Models are drawn on the flat map and on the globe. On the globe, models on the far side are hidden.
• Each row is one model. A layer can draw tens of thousands of rows of a few models. Animated models are limited to 200 rows each.
• Only .glb files are read. A .gltf file with separate files beside it cannot be used: pack it into a .glb file first.

Related

• 3D columns
• Shapes at their heights
• Files in OneLake
• Terrain, hillshade, sky and lighting
• Combine several layers in one map
• Conditional formatting