Clearly and Simply

Tag: aggregates of aggregates

  • Another Look at Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 (Part 2)

    Techniques to Get Past the Limitations – Part 2: Data Blending and Parameters for Lookups

    © Niko Korte / pixelio.deThis is the second part of a guest post series by Richard Leeke from Equinox Ltd.

    The first part of this series described one approach to overcoming the restrictions in Robert’s Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6, in this case using table calculations. If you look at the roadblocks Robert has described in his approach, table calculations are probably the first idea that comes to your mind if you are trying to overcome the issues. But whilst that approach achieves the analytical outcome Robert was seeking, it does not get the workbook back to the performance Robert had achieved with version 5.2.

    However, there are other options, too: you could either use data blending or even a nifty little trick to let parameters do the required lookups. Each of those techniques makes the workbook quicker, as I explain below. Each of the three approaches comes with its own pros and cons, but all of them are well worth having a closer look.

    Today’s article describes those 2 alternative approaches and again provides the Tableau workbook on Tableau Public and for free download.

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  • Another Look at Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 (Part 1)

    Techniques to Get Past the Limitations – Part 1: Table Calculations

    © Ulrich E. K. Schmidt / pixelio.deClearly and Simply proudly presents another guest post: Richard Leeke is kind enough to contribute a series of 3 articles on how to overcome the limitations of my fragmentary and imperfect Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6. Richard is a co-founder of Equinox Ltd, a New Zealand based IT consulting firm, where he specializes in performance engineering. And Richard is one of the most active members in the Tableau Forums with an impressive number of almost 1,300 posts so far. A real Tableau expert. Enjoy.

    I read Robert’s excellent Site Catchment Analysis with Tableau 6 post discussing the pluses and minuses of Tableau 6 compared with 5.2 and despite being really pleased with what version 6 has delivered, I could immediately relate to the limitations Robert had encountered.

    I was fortunate enough to be on the Technology Preview programme for the new Tableau Data Engine and the alpha programme for the rest of version 6, so I have had a few months’ head-start on most of the Tableau community in terms of learning how to get the most out of the new version. One of the things that I have come to realize is that there are lots of completely different ways to tackle the same problem, so I couldn’t resist the challenge of seeing if I could get past any of the limits which Robert described. I managed to do so, and along the way learned a lot and also developed a couple of new (to me, at least) techniques which will be invaluable in my own analysis.

    Today’s article describes how to use aggregate table calculations to overcome the limitations of Robert’s site catchment analysis. As always, including the workbook for direct access here on the blog via Tableau Public and for free download. 

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