Extending Tableau mapping with other technology

Next, we will consider how to extend Tableau's mapping capabilities with other tools. Tableau developers were careful to create a mapping interface that is readily extensible. Some areas of this extensibility, such as connecting to a WMS server, are available directly from the interface. Other areas require delving into the rarely explored TMS file. And still others require the author to provide latitude and longitude points - perhaps millions of points to create complicated polygons on a map or background image. We will explore each of these following options.

Exercise - connecting to a WMS server

The easiest way to bring a custom map into Tableau is directly from the desktop. The requirement is simply a properly formatted URL pointing to a Web Mapping Service (WMS) server. A good place to find a list of such URLs is http://directory.spatineo.com, which provides information for about 45,000 mapping services at the time of writing.

The following...