{"id":1973,"date":"2013-09-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/dataplatforminsider\/2013\/09\/25\/microsoft-updates-power-bi-for-office-365-preview-with-new-natural-language-search-mapping-capabilities\/"},"modified":"2024-01-22T22:52:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T06:52:10","slug":"microsoft-updates-power-bi-for-office-365-preview-with-new-natural-language-search-mapping-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new-cm-edgedigital.pages.dev\/en-us\/sql-server\/blog\/2013\/09\/25\/microsoft-updates-power-bi-for-office-365-preview-with-new-natural-language-search-mapping-capabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Updates Power BI for Office 365 Preview with New Natural Language Search, Mapping Capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re pleased to announce the addition of significant new features to the Power BI for Office 365 preview, including natural language search with Q&A and improved experiences in two preview add-ins for Excel with 3D mapping visualizations through Power Map and improved data search in Power Query.<\/p>\n

Introduced in July and currently in preview, Power BI for Office 365<\/a> is a self-service business intelligence (BI) service delivered through Office 365. Complementing Excel, it arms information workers with data analysis and visualization capabilities, enabling them to identify deeper business insights either on premises or within a trusted cloud environment. With Power BI for Office 365, customers can connect to data in the cloud or extend their existing on premises data sources and systems to quickly build and deploy self-service BI solutions hosted in Microsoft\u2019s enterprise cloud.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had the preview open to an initial wave of customers for the past month and are encouraged by the enthusiastic response we\u2019ve received. Today we\u2019re excited to share some of the new features we\u2019ve added recently to both Excel and the Power BI for Office 365 service.<\/p>\n

Search-driven data visualization with Q&A<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the Power BI features users have been most interested in is Q&A,<\/strong> which takes enterprise data search and exploration to a whole new level. With Q&A, we looked at how consumers experienced Bing search and used that knowledge to enable customers to query their enterprise data and generate stunning visual results. The search experience is instantaneous and uses natural language query \u2013 Q&A interprets the question the user is asking and serves up the correct interactive chart or graph. We\u2019ve received great responses from customers who have tested this capability and look forward to hearing what you think.<\/p>\n

Storytelling through 3D mapping with Power Map <\/strong><\/p>\n

First previewed<\/a> a few months ago, Power Map<\/strong> (formerly GeoFlow) is an add-in for Excel which gives users the ability to plot geographic and temporal data visually on Bing Maps, analyze that data in 3D, and create interactive tours to share with others. This month, we made some significant updates to Power Map on the Download Center<\/a> including immediate geo-coding of geospatial elements of data coupled with new region-based visualization that color-codes these geo-political areas: zip code, county, state, country\/region. Users can also take the interactive tours designed in Power Map to create videos optimized for mobile, tablets\/computer, and HD displays. These videos can be shared anywhere, including social media, PowerPoint slides, and Office 365. To read more about the new features if Power Map, check out the Excel blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

Simplifying data discovery with Power Query<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve also updated Power Query<\/strong><\/a> an add-in to Excel which helps customers easily discover, combine and transform their data. We have improved the online search experience and expanded the number of available datasets including popular datasets from data.gov<\/a> and the Windows Azure Marketplace<\/a>, in addition to Wikipedia<\/a>. We\u2019ve also improved the external data import for SQL Server\/Windows Azure SQL Database, as well as the overall filter capabilities across all supported data sources. Additionally, Power Query now supports different merge options for more flexibility in building your queries. We\u2019re offering better integration with Excel so users can share queries with others in their organizations.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

These new features compliment the current capabilities already included in the Power BI preview, such as:<\/p>\n