Filled maps (choropleth) in Tableau - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

Sales data by US state used to create a filled map showing sales distribution.

Cell	Value
A1	State
B1	Sales
A2	California
B2	50000
A3	Texas
B3	30000
A4	New York
B4	20000
A5	Florida
B5	15000
A6	Illinois
B6	10000

Formula Trace

Assign color intensity to each state based on Sales value for filled map visualization

Step 1: Read Sales value for California (B2)

Step 2: Read Sales value for Texas (B3)

Step 3: Read Sales value for New York (B4)

Step 4: Read Sales value for Florida (B5)

Step 5: Read Sales value for Illinois (B6)

Step 6: Normalize sales values to color scale (0 to 1)

Step 7: Assign fill color to each state based on normalized sales

Cell Reference Map

    A          B
1 | State    | Sales  |
2 | California -> 50000 |
3 | Texas      -> 30000 |
4 | New York   -> 20000 |
5 | Florida    -> 15000 |
6 | Illinois   -> 10000 |

States in column A and their sales values in column B are used to assign colors on the filled map.

Result

California

↓

Texas

↓

New York

↓

Florida

↓

Illinois

The filled map colors each state with shades of red. Darker red means higher sales, lighter red means lower sales.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

Which state has the darkest color on the filled map?

A Texas

B California

C Florida

D Illinois

Key Result

Filled maps assign colors to geographic areas by normalizing measure values to a color scale.