Author: Adam

Workaround for the Tableau “custom SQL” restriction on SQL Server variables

SQL Server (among other databases) has a handy feature for easy re-use of queries, in the guise of variables. You can declare variables and use them repeatedly in any query in the current session. That's pretty handy for any complicated query forms you use repeatedly, where each time you might need to change some basic criteria. As … Continue reading Workaround for the Tableau “custom SQL” restriction on SQL Server variables →

Free up-to-date UK postcode latitude longitude data

Unless your data comes pre geo-encoded, if you're trying to do some UK-based geospatial analysis you'll probably need some easy way of translating addresses into latitude/longitude pairs or some similar co-ordinate system. Whilst full-address geocoders are available, if you don't actually need that level of precision then looking up a full postcode is often good enough and … Continue reading Free up-to-date UK postcode latitude longitude data →

A few notes on Tableau 10’s cross-database join feature

The new version of Tableau, number 10, got released whilst I was busy sunning myself on holiday. This mean there was at least something to look forward to in returning to the world of work 🙂 It has many, many new features. I suspect one of the most impactful, in this era of data lying around everywhere … Continue reading A few notes on Tableau 10’s cross-database join feature →

Help decide who self-driving cars should kill

Automated self-driving cars are surely on their way. Given the direction of technological development, this seems a safe enough prediction to make - at least when taking the coward's option of not specifying a time frame. A self-driving car is, after all, a data processor, and we like to think that we're getting better at dealing … Continue reading Help decide who self-driving cars should kill →

Creating my first Tableau web data connector : part 3

At last, the final part of the trials and tribulations of creating my first Tableau Web Data Connector... Part 1 went through the pre-requisites, and building what I might generously term my "user interface". Part 2 was a struggle against the forces of web security. And in this part, we battle against the data itself, until the error-message … Continue reading Creating my first Tableau web data connector : part 3 →

Creating my first Tableau web data connector – part 2

Now for the next part of the creating-a-web-data-connector journey: previously, I had got all the software I needed to create a web data connector installed (well, to be fair Notepad comes with Windows so that wasn't hard) and designed my user interface. Now it was time to move on to Tableau tutorial section 5 - … Continue reading Creating my first Tableau web data connector – part 2 →

The Tableau #MakeoverMonday doesn’t need to be complicated

For a while, a couple of  key members of the insatiably effervescent Tableau community, Andy Cotgreave and Andy Kriebel, have been running a "Makeover Monday" activity. Read more and get involved here - but a simplistic summary would be that they distribute a nicely processed dataset on a topic of the day that relates to someone else's existing visualisation, and all the rest … Continue reading The Tableau #MakeoverMonday doesn’t need to be complicated →

Creating my first Tableau web data connector – the highs and the lows: part 1

After having successfully (enough) completed my introduction to creating a real live Tableau web data connector, I wanted to follow the lead of one of the inspirations for this otherwise unnecessary effort - Chris Love's Persiscope on the subject of sharing Tableau-related failure as well as unbridled success -  and document something about the less smooth aspects of … Continue reading Creating my first Tableau web data connector – the highs and the lows: part 1 →

#VisualizeNoMalaria: Let’s all help build an anti-Malaria dataset

As well as just being plain old fun, data can also be an enabler for "good" in the world. Several organisations are clearly aware of this; both Tableau and Alteryx now have wings specifically for doing good. There are whole organisations set up to promote beneficial uses of data, such as DataKind, and a bunch of … Continue reading #VisualizeNoMalaria: Let’s all help build an anti-Malaria dataset →