Hi Catherine Tulley,

First things first. *virtual high-five*

A point of clarification, with spatial file support you will be able to connect to files that contain points or polygons. This first release of spatial support will not include lines or mixed-types. Lines we are working on right now, but support for mixed types is not immediately planned.

To your question - the short answer is no, there will not be a mechanism for importing a spatial file definition into the Tableau geocoding database as a custom geographic role. This is a feature we have discussed internally, but there's no time-frame set for when we will get to it.

Kent

Product Manager, Maps

Hi Simon Runc,

The idea is still alive, but we just haven't committed the time and effort to make a public-facing, easy to maintain, downright delightful interface for anyone to see what Tableau geocoding supports. There is moderate interest, but not a pressing need. I'm hoping we can figure out a creative solution sooner than later.

Kent

Product Manager, Maps

Hey Shawn Wallwork,

Definitely map/spatial-data related. I am going to ask that you allow me to answer this on Monday -- I generally know why, but I want to confer with a couple of peers, to provide as much detail about why and hopefully offer some insight on how soon we might be able to enable this capability.  Stay tuned.

Kent

Product Manager, Maps

Hey Jim Dehner,

Can I ask you to be more specific about what you want to know about?  What exactly do you want to know about custom mapping and merging custom maps?  Are you talking about background maps and map layers or interactive marks?

For sources of weather data in the United States, I would start by looking at data and services provided by NOAA:

WMS services: NOAA's National Weather Service

There are many historic weather datasets here: Datasets | Climate Data Online (CDO) | National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

Folks in the community might have compiled a more thorough list of resources as well.

Kent

Product Manager, Maps

Thank you Joshua Milligan!

So you post an idea and ask a question about it on the same day? I like your style. I certainly have thoughts on exposing geometry fields in calculations to do more. I would love to see the community vote it up if it's something they would get value out of as well.  I will say this, I like your idea a lot. We actually support some calculation expressions with geometry fields in 10.2 (IFNULL, ISNULL, etc.) and I can see the wide-appeal of the types of calculations your referring to, so hopefully we can make that happen one day soon.

Kent

Product Manager, Maps