Exercise: connecting to a WMS server

The easiest way to bring a custom map into Tableau is directly from Desktop. We need a properly-formatted URL that points to a WMS server.

A good place to find a list of such URLs is http://directory.spatineo.com, which provides information for about 101,500 mapping services, as of this writing.

The following exercise was inspired by Jeffrey A. Shaffer's article at http://www.dataplusscience.com, Building weather radar in Tableau in under 1 minute:

1. Open the workbook associated with this chapter and navigate to the WMS Server worksheet via Desktop.
2. Select the Superstore data source.
3. Place State on the Detail shelf.
4. Copy the http://nowcoast.noaa.gov/arcgis/services/nowcoast/radar_meteo_imagery_nexrad_time/MapServer/WMSServer? URL.
5. In Tableau, navigate to Map > Background Maps > Map Services.
6. Select Add, choose WMS Servers, and paste...