Spatial files, such as a shapefile or geoJSON file, contain actual geometries (points, lines or polygons), whereas text files or spreadsheets contain point locations in latitude and longitude coordinates, or named locations that, when brought into Tableau, connect to the Tableau geocoding (stored geometries that your data references).įor a complete list of connections Tableau supports, see the list of Data Connections (Link opens in a new window) on the Tableau website.įor this tutorial, you are going to connect to an Excel file that comes with Tableau Desktop. You can work with geographic data by connecting to spatial files, or you can connect to location data stored in spreadsheets, text files or on a server. These are how you will connect to your data. When you open Tableau Desktop, the start page shows you the connectors available in the left Connect pane. Geographic data comes in many shapes and formats. If you're new to building maps in Tableau, this a great place to start. You'll learn how to connect to and join geographic data format that data in Tableau create location hierarchies build and present a basic map view and apply key mapping features along the way. This tutorial walks you through some of the most common tasks you might perform when creating maps in Tableau.
