I’ve become interested in geospatial mapping features of SQL Server 2008, and how these can be used to benefit users’ understanding of their data. As a starting point for teaching myself, I used Tableau to display some ‘Complaints’ data, using Longitude and Latitude in order to put points on a map. In order to understand more about the SQL Server geometry and geography datatypes, my next step will be to expose some data using the new data types.
While I’m learning, I thought I’d apply Tableau to UK data so that there is a non-US-centred example. So, the attached video shows how easy it is to put data on a map. The video shows the number of complaints made, broken down by specific postcode area. The size of the circle represents the number of complaints in a specific area, and the colour refers to different postcodes within the area of Scotland that we’re looking at.
It’s the first time I’ve tried something like this, so I’d be interested to know what you think!
Nice Job Jen – what level of detail have you used on the postcodes? Just the outcode (first 4 characters) or the full postcodes? Does SQL server help with the conversion to Lat Long somehow?