SPATIAL DATA
Spatial data, including both geographic coordinates and areas, is often stored in certain file formats. Tableau supports the following spatial file formats:
- KML files (*.kml), an XML‐based standard created by the Open Geospacial Consortium and popularized by the Google Earth tool.
- ESRI Shapefiles (*.shp), which is the leading file format in the world of GIS mapping.
- MapInfo TAB format (*.tab).
- MapInfo Interchange Format (*.mif).
- GeoJSON files (*geojson), an open standard based on the JSON format. (Standard JSON files can also be opened in Tableau.)
With these file types, you can map geographic data that goes beyond the basic entities such as countries, states, and cities that are stored in Tableau's internal database. Next, we will look at a real‐world example.
Undersea Communication Cables
For this example, we won't use the Superstore dataset used for most of the examples in this book so far. Instead, you will download a spatial file from the website...
