Chris,

I don't believe this will be easily done with the default maps provided with Tableau.  This is by design, as the default maps are very good at providing a geographic context without distracting from the data.  That's why labels, borders, and other items on the map are muted.  This allows for the marks representing your data to really stand out.

There are a couple of things to note:

1. As you probably know, you can change some of the options of how maps are displayed and what layers are visible. 

2. If you have access to a WMS service you can use that to provide background map images and various layers.  There are various free services available -- you might do some searching and use the online help for using WMS for maps.  You might find a service that provides maps that have different border colors.

Do you have a specific need that requires different border colors?

Depending on what 4 maps you are putting into PowerPoint, you may be able to get Tableau to do the work for you and give you a better scaled image.

For example, you can create a "small multiples" of the map visualization and get more than one map in a single view.  The resulting image might not need much re-sizing in PowerPoint and the borders might show better.

Chris & Joshua, let me jump in here. You should go here:

http://community.tableau.com/message/191176#191176

And then here:

http://community.tableau.com/thread/121418

This will let you darken the borders.

--Shawn

Shawn,

Thank you very much for the links!  That's some great info.  I'll look into hacking the TMS file.

Joshua

Chris,

The maps will be the same size as Tableau will keep the row and column headers equal in width and height.  The second link in Shawn's reply contains great info for how to customize your borders.  I didn't realize you could do that... learn something new every day!

Joshua

Hi all,

I'm a noob at using Tableau, but I think I found a way that lets you change the border colors from within the program without having to hack away at obscure configuration files. If you set your viz type to "Filled Map" and open the Color field below you have a border setting right there. You can change the color to whatever you like or leave it at the default "automatic" setting (check screenshot).

I don't think that would be a solution for road display as discussed in the two referenced posts, but for country borders this works (haven't tried anything else).

Helge

Hi Helge, welcome to the forums. What kind of journalism do you do? What country/publication? I'm just curious. Thanks,

--Shawn

Hi Shawn,

I am German, but working out of Buenos Aires currently. Basically I'm doing investigations for several German NGOs, i.e. compile information on companies, countries, topics, etc. Sometimes I find a chart or map is saying so much more than two pages of text, which is why I started to look into Tableau, Google Fusion Tables and Maps, Many Eyes, Mapresso, Mapbox, etc. I'm also blogging about my life in Argentina and have been missing the possibility to include any viz into my wordpress.com blog. They don't allow javascript in the posts. Probably the only option I have there is to self host my blog or just include a screenshot of any viz I make - which is just not the same. :-)

Helge

Interesting. So then you must have pretty good Portuguese. I envy those who have a knack for language, my brain just doesn't work that way.

Most people here have tried most of the other programs you mentioned, but of course we all settled on Tableau. As far as your blog goes you could post a screen shot and then links to your Tableau Public site. Who knows the Viz Of the Day folks might even pick up one of your charts, and give you a bit of free publicity and a pat on the back.

By the way, I always find charts and maps more compelling than text; well most of the time.

Cheers

--Shawn

Hi Shawn,

this is getting off-topic but: Brazil is the only country to have adopted Portuguese in Latin America. Buenos Aires - being the capital of Argentina - requires Spanish (or the local flavor). Sorry, couldn't resist. :-P

And yes, I do speak German, English, Spanish, French and a little Portuguese as well.

Helge

Sorry, brain freeze, I read Buenos Aires and thought Brazil, even though you mentioned Argentina! Guess I need a break.

--Shawn

Helge, FYI, here's today's Viz of the Day: http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/comparing-argentina039s-economy?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+VizOfTheDay+%28Viz+of+the+Day+-+Beautiful+Visual+Stories%29

This could be you.

--Shawn