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