Tableau vs Google Looker for Enterprise Data Visualization

Install Tableau desktop and sign up for Tableau Public to start creating visualizations; explore a 14-day free trial, student licenses, activation options, and connecting data sources.

Use the customer, product, and sales CSV files to see data as transactional and lookup tables, and note Tableau accepts a long table with variables in columns.

Import csv files in Tableau, connect to the data source, and drag the table onto the canvas. Edit metadata by renaming fields and adjusting data types, then save the workbook.

Compare live connections and data extracts in Tableau to decide between real-time visualizations and performance. Learn when to refresh extracts manually to reflect updated data.

Combine data from multiple tables by joining on a key to reveal region-wise sales, and explore joins, relationships, and unions in Tableau.

Discover how to create relationships in Tableau by linking tables with a noodle, using customer ID, and adjusting cardinality and referential integrity for efficient joins.

Explore how Tableau builds joins and compares them with relationships using region-wise sales from sales and customer data. See how joins yield a single table, while relationships keep tables separate.

Learn how to join two tables in Tableau using inner, left, right, and full outer joins on a common key like customer ID, including handling nulls in the resulting data.

Learn how to union sales data from multiple csv files in Tableau to create a single table. Explore specific and wildcard unions and the physical layer approach.

Explore how the physical layer handles joins and unions while the logical layer defines relationships, with noodles illustrating how the data model forms for visualizations.

Explore how to build visualizations in Tableau sheet view, using the data source tab, menu bar, toolbar, and analytics pane, while understanding dimensions, measures, and discrete versus continuous data.

Explore dimensions and measures in Tableau, and how aggregation computes category-wise sums and averages, with the same column serving as both dimension and measure depending on context.

Explore how Tableau classifies variables as discrete or continuous, defining finite versus infinite values, and see how this choice shapes axis behavior, headers, and trend lines for dimensions and measures.

Learn how to change data types in Tableau by converting dimensions to measures and vice versa, and distinguish discrete (blue) from continuous (green) values for accurate visualizations.

Master bar charts in Tableau by switching between vertical column charts and horizontal bars, placing categories in columns or rows to compare category and region wise profit, and sorting options.

Draw line charts in Tableau to visualize trends by placing date on columns and sales on rows. Set date granularity to year, quarter, or month and add measures like profit.

Learn to create scatter plots showing relationships between two numerical variables such as sales and profit. Explore points and trends, and how marks card and dimensions support subcategory analysis.

Master the Tableau marks cards to format any chart by adjusting color, size, borders, opacity, and labels. Configure tooltips and explore line chart paths (linear, step, lump) and scatter plot shapes.

Drag and drop dimensions and measures onto the marks card to create new chart types; use labels with percent of total and table down to show region-wise profit.

Explore how dropping dimensions into the marks and color cards creates multi-line charts and how to build dual line charts with sales and profit on separate axes.

Drag and drop dimensions and measures onto the marks card to create a scatter plot with color, shape, and size detailing aggregated profit, sales, and sub category order counts.

Create and compare three tabular visualizations in Tableau: text tables, heatmaps, and highlight tables, by arranging dimensions and measures, applying color and size encodings, and exploring cross tabulations.

Learn to create and customize pie charts in Tableau, using category and sum of sales, add labels, switch to percent of total, and compare contributions across regions.

Learn to draw area charts and compare them to line charts, using continuous or discrete time, stacking categories to show the overall sales trend and each category's contribution over time.

Create custom hierarchies in Tableau by dragging levels to define category, subcategory, and product name, then use the hierarchy on a sheet to drill into sales data.

Explore treemaps to visualize hierarchical data with rectangles sized by the sum of sales and colored by value, revealing categories, subcategories, and region.

Create dual combination charts in Tableau by plotting two measures on primary and secondary axes with different marks, e.g., profit as bars and sales as lines, and synchronize axes.

Create bins to convert continuous numeric data into categories, such as age groups, by setting a bin size in Tableau, then analyze sales by groups and visualize with charts.

Create histograms in Tableau by binning data and visualizing counts per bin to reveal distribution shape. Adjust bin width and convert bins between continuous and discrete to refine the histogram.

Group data in Tableau to create custom groups within a dimension, generate a new field, visualize by group, color by the grouping, and correct unclean data.

Learn how to filter data in Tableau by keeping only desired marks, excluding others, and applying dimension, measure, and date time filters via the filter shelf, axis, and marks.

Explore configuring a dimension filter in Tableau by selecting subcategories in the filter shelf, using general, wildcard, condition, and top tabs to refine visible categories based on sum of sales.

Configure measure filters in the filter shelf by choosing an aggregation (sum, average, median, standard deviation, variance, or attribute) and setting a range, at least, at most, or special values.

Master date time filters in Tableau by using relative dates and date ranges, setting lower and upper boundaries, handling null dates, and filtering by year, quarter, or month.

Explore how date time and other filters work in Tableau, including show filter, clear filter, add to context, apply to worksheets, and the roles of dimension, attribute, and measures.

Explore Tableau's order of operation for filters, including extract, data source, context, and dimension and measure filters, and learn how promoting context filters boosts performance and controls data scope.

Configure and customize visual filters for charts, including dimension and date time filters, major and measure filters, and dynamic only relevant values.

Sort chart data in Tableau using axis icons, field-level options, and manual dragging to arrange subcategories by sum of sales, alphabetically, or by profit, including nested sorts for multi-pane views.

Create a map chart from geographic data in Tableau, using geographic fields and hierarchies, switch mark type to map, and highlight regions with color by sales.

Explore how to build map charts in Tableau by preparing geographic data, assigning geographic roles, and using built-in or custom maps.

Customize map charts in Tableau using the marks card and detail card. Create a location hierarchy: country, state, city; and color, size, labels, and tooltips for regional sales.

Learn to customize maps in Tableau using the map menu, including background maps, themes, and custom maps with Mapbox or WMS, plus geocoding and edit locations.

Explore how to stack multiple layers on a single map to show state sales by color and profit by size, using layer controls to hide, reorder, rename, and control interaction.

Discover how the visual toolbar enhances map analysis with search, layer control, zoom, pan, and multiple selection tools to filter marks and measure distances in Tableau.

Plot data on a custom background image in Tableau, using a background map and coordinate grid, then join office coordinates to data and visualize labeled points.

Create and color three territories on Tableau maps by grouping states into territory one, territory two, and territory three, then analyze territory-wise sales.

Learn how to plot locations in Tableau when geocoding is missing by blending two data sources to supply latitude and longitude using a shared ID.

Learn how to create calculated fields in Tableau to transform data, including currency conversion, days to process orders, and if-else categories.

Explore how Tableau functions enable complex calculations across numbers, dates, text, logical conditions, and aggregates. Practice with case and if-else usage and consult the function documentation and pdf resources.

Learn how table calculations apply only to plotted data, compute metrics like percentages, differences, and ranks, and apply them across or down to reveal department and cost category contributions.

Explore how to create and interpret table calculations in Tableau, including difference from, percent difference, percent of total, ranks, and running totals across regions and ship modes.

Explore level of detail expressions in Tableau to control aggregation beyond the chart, using fixed, include, and exclude LOD expressions to tailor per-student, per-subject, and per-institute calculations.

Explore how lod expressions in Tableau create cohort analyses and level of detail calculations, using fixed, include, and exclude to enhance region, customer, and subcategory visualizations.

Explore the analytics pane in Tableau and add constant lines, average lines by table or pane, median with quartiles, totals, trend lines, forecast, clustering, and box plots to enhance charts.