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AboutData|August22,2016|ByRogerAikema

ImportingSpatialDataintoTableauusingFME
TodaywewelcomeguestbloggersRgisLongchampandDavidReksten,FMECertifiedProfessionalsfromINSER
(http://www.inser.ch/).Theywillsharepartofanexampletheycreatedforaclient,whichusesTableauandFMEtocreatea
cartographicrepresentationofthepopulationdistributioninSwitzerland.INSERisaGISconsultingcompanybasedinLausanne,
Swizerland,andhasbeenaSafeSoftwareGoldPartnersince2005.ThispostoriginallyappearedinFrenchonINSERswebsite
(http://inser.ch/fr/content/fmeettableauDemo).

Tableauisasoftwarepackageforanalyzingandvisualizingdataaimingtosimplifyandfacilitatedecisionmaking.ThankstotheVisQL
technology(draganddroptocreatequeries),Tableauhasthepossibilitytoconsumedatafromdifferentsourcesandtovisualizethem
inasimpleandintuitivemanner.ItisinthiscontextthatFMEcanplayanimportantrole.
ToillustratethesynergybetweenFMEandTableau,wehavecreatedthisreallifeusecasebasedontheofficialSwisspopulationdata.
Thedatasetisacollectionofpolygonsrepresentingeachofthe26Swisscantons,withanattributeforeachpolygonindicatingthe
numberofinhabitants.Thegoalistocreateacartographicrepresentationthatdifferentiateseachcantonbasedonthenumberof
inhabitants.

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp
content/uploads/2016/08/19093836/tableauwhatwehave.png) (http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp
WhatWeHave
content/uploads/2016/08/19093837/tableauwhatwewant.png)
WhatWeWant

InFME
First,wewillbereadingtheinputdatausingaReader,inourexamplethedataexistsinanEsriFileGeodatabase.Tableaudoesnot
currentlysupportdonutpolygons,andsincetheSwisscantonallimitscontainsquiteafewenclaveswewillhavetoremovetheholesto
convertthedonutsintosimplepolygons.HeresanexamplefromthecantonofVaud:

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp
content/uploads/2016/08/19093833/tableaubeforewith
donuts.png)
Before,withholes

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp
content/uploads/2016/08/19093832/tableauafterwithout
donuts.png)
After,withoutholes

Thiscanbedonebyseparatingtheholesfromtheoutershells,thenfilteringoutthecantonalenclavesbycheckingifanoutershellis
containedbyanotheroutershell.SincetheDonutHoleExtractordecomposesouraggregates,wehavetouseanAggregatorto
assemblethembacktogetheragainafter.

Wewillalsobepopulatinganewattribute,Z_ORDER,sothatwecancontrolthedrawingorderinTableau,thisistopreventsmaller
cantonsthatarewhollysurroundedbyalargercantontobeoverlapped,nowthatthelargercantonnolongerhasanyholes.

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/19093839/tableauworkspace.png)
Towritetheoutputdataset,weaddtheTableauDataExtract(TDE)WriterthatwasintroducedinFME2016.

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/19093839/tde

writer.png)
NotethatTableauexpectsthedatatobeprojectedinWGS84Lat/Long,whichFMEwillautomaticallydoforyouifyoujustmakesure
thattheinputdataistaggedwithitscorrespondingprojection.
Ifyourgeometriesarelargeandcontainalotofvertices,youmightnoticethatTableaucantakeawhiletorefreshthevisualizations.In
thosecasesitcanbeveryhelpfultopreprocessthedatawithaGeneralizertoreducethenumberofverticesbeforewritingthedata.
ForourdatasetwesetPreservesharedboundariestoYestopreservethetopologicalrelationshipsbetweenthecantons.

InTableau
AfterFMEhaswrittentheTableauDataExtractfile,simplydoubleclicktheTDEfileandthedatawillopeninTableauDesktop:

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/19093836/tableauswisscantonstable.png)
InTableauthegeometriesarestoredasalistofvertices,withalltheattributesattachedtoeachvertex.Thismeansthatitcanbea
goodideatoreduceboththenumberofattributesandverticesinFMEbeforesavingtheTDEfile,reducingthememoryloadand
improvingperformancesinTableaulateron.
Weseethatthevertexcoordinates(spatial_longitudeandspatial_latitude)forallthegeometrypartsareshown,aswellasthevertex
order(spatial_geometry_order)andthepartnumber(spatial_geometry_id).WealsoseetheattributeswespecifiedinourWriter:
CANTON,POPULATION,etc.
VisualizingpolygonsinTableaudiffersabitfromsoftwareusedbymostGISprofessionals.Fromtherawdataviewwemust
1.OpentheSheet1tabinTableautoopenthemaincanvas
2.Doubleclickthelongitudeandlatitudeattributestosetthemasthecolumnandrowdimensionsrespectively.Thedataviewshould
nowchangetoamapview.
3.SelectthepolygonrepresentationintheMarksdropdownlistofdatarepresentationtypes
4.DragthePOPULATIONmeasureanddropitontotheColorcategory
5.DragtheZ_ORDERmeasureunderthePOPULATIONmark.
6.Dragthespatial_geometry_iddimensionundertheZ_ORDERmark.Thisgroupstheverticesaccordingtotheirpartid(formulti
partgeometries).
7.Dragthespatial_geometry_orderdimensionontothePathcategoryThisensuresthattheverticesaredrawninthecorrectorder.

(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/08/19093834/tableaufinaloutput.png)

Andtherewehaveit,thankstoFMEwenowhaveourcantonpolygonsvisualizedinTableauaccordingtopopulationnumbers.Wecan
nowcontinuetooverlayotherdataandstartanalyzingtheminnewandinformativeways.

Conclusion
ThankstothissimpleexamplewecanseethepotentialwhencombiningFMEandTableau(https://www.safe.com/solutions/tableau/).
FortheTableauusers,FMEgivesthemtheopportunitytoperformpowerfulanddynamicspatialanalysis.Inaddition,thevastnumber
offormatssupportedbyFMEgivesthemthepossibilitytointegrateevenmoredatasourcesintoTableau.
FortheFMEusers,Tableauoffersthepossibilitytoquicklyvisualizeandpresentdatainnewandexcitingways,combiningbothspatial
andnonspatialdataforsupportindecisionmaking.
Tryityourself:DownloadFMEWorkspace,TableauWorkbook,data,andTDEfile(http://cdn.blog.safe.com/wp
content/uploads/2016/08/19141651/FMEandTableaubehindthescenes.zip)

RgisLongchampisaGISAnalystatINSER.HehasaMastersdegreeinEnvironmentalSciencesand
EngineeringfromcolePolytechniqueFdraledeLausanne(Switzerland)withaspecializationinGeomatics.
HeisanFMECertifiedProfessional.

DavidRekstenisaGISAnalystandDeveloperatINSER.HehasadegreeinComputerEngineeringfromthe
UniversityofOslo(Norway).DavidisanFMECertifiedProfessionalandatopleaderinourFMEUser
Community(https://knowledge.safe.com/questions/index.html).

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