Geographic Charts

Spatial or geographic data in Tableau is often best visualized on a map. Maps are a great visualization in Tableau for identifying geographic trends or comparing specific spatial areas/regions in a way that can be much more intuitive than simply presenting comparisons of the geographic names in other chart types.

When using a geographic field in Tableau, the field will have a Geographic Role option selected. For example, a Country field will have the Country/Region geographic role selected. It is important to select the correct geographic role for a field as this is how Tableau will try to map the data. Names of places are the most common field type. They are essentially string fields that have been given a geographic role that tells Tableau how to map them. These geographic roles can range from airport names to counties, postcodes, and cities.

Figure 5.24: The Country field with the Country/Region geographic role applied

Tableau will...