Tableau Geographic Data and Mapping 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Tableau feature creates a heatmap effect showing concentration of points without individual marks?
- Density mark type (Correct answer)
- Filled map
- Dual axis
- Reference line
Correct answer: Density mark type
The Density mark type renders a heatmap showing where points cluster most densely.
Question 2: To overlay symbol marks on top of a filled map in Tableau, which technique is commonly used?
- A dual-axis map using two Latitude/Longitude pairs (Correct answer)
- Two separate worksheets
- A pie chart
- A stacked bar
Correct answer: A dual-axis map using two Latitude/Longitude pairs
Adding a second generated Latitude to the Rows shelf and choosing Dual Axis layers two map layers.
Question 3: Which background map provider/styles are available natively in Tableau's Map menu?
- Normal, Light, Dark, Streets, Outdoors, and Satellite styles (Correct answer)
- Only Google Maps
- Only Bing Maps
- No background styles
Correct answer: Normal, Light, Dark, Streets, Outdoors, and Satellite styles
Tableau offers several built-in background map styles including Light, Dark, Streets, Outdoors, and Satellite.
Question 4: What is required to display custom polygons (e.g., custom sales territories) on a Tableau map?
- Polygon data with point order (Path) and a Polygon mark type, or a spatial file (Correct answer)
- A pie chart
- A text table
- A histogram
Correct answer: Polygon data with point order (Path) and a Polygon mark type, or a spatial file
Custom shapes need polygon vertices ordered by a Path field with the Polygon mark type, or a spatial file like a shapefile.
Question 5: Which spatial file formats can Tableau connect to directly?
- Shapefiles, KML, GeoJSON, MapInfo, and TopoJSON (Correct answer)
- Only CSV
- Only Excel
- Only PDF
Correct answer: Shapefiles, KML, GeoJSON, MapInfo, and TopoJSON
Tableau can connect directly to common spatial formats including Shapefile, KML, GeoJSON, MapInfo, and TopoJSON.
Question 6: What does the MAKEPOINT() spatial function do in Tableau?
- Creates a spatial point object from latitude and longitude values (Correct answer)
- Draws a bar
- Counts records
- Formats a date
Correct answer: Creates a spatial point object from latitude and longitude values
MAKEPOINT() converts latitude and longitude numbers into a spatial point usable in spatial calculations.
Question 7: Which spatial function measures the distance between two points in Tableau?
- DISTANCE() (Correct answer)
- AVG()
- DATEDIFF()
- LEN()
Correct answer: DISTANCE()
DISTANCE() returns the distance between two spatial points in a specified unit such as kilometers or miles.
Tableau Geographic Data and Mapping 3
Which Tableau feature creates a heatmap effect showing concentration of points without individual marks?