Hi, my name is Bruna Guglielmi, and I’m part of Sydney Cohort 26. Today’s focus was all about connecting to an API of the National Parks in the USA and working with the data it provides in Tableau. You can find it here.
Data Preparation with Alteryx
To start, I used Alteryx to clean and organize the data, pulling out the pieces I wanted to work with. The cleaning steps were pretty straightforward: I parsed the JSON file, filtered out the JSON ID (since it didn’t make much sense to keep), and kept the actual park ID. From there, I created separate tables by cross-tabling each piece of information individually. Afterwards, I used a find-and-replace method to replace the JSON IDs with the park codes so everything would be connected by the park code rather than the JSON ID. Here’s a quick photo of one of my workflows to give you an idea of the process!
Ultimately, I ended up with five tables, all connected by the park code. They’re “joined” through relationships in Tableau, as the image below shows.
Dashboard Design and Planning
My goal with this dashboard was to keep it super simple and user-friendly while covering the essentials.
Once the data was set up, I started sketching out my dashboard design and deciding on the types of charts to use. Since I had a lot of URLs to work with, I wanted to incorporate URL actions on the dashboard, creating an informative camping guide for users.
Are you looking for a camping recommendation for your next trip to the U.S.? Or maybe a specific state? With the parameter settings on the dashboard, you can find recommendations tailored just for you, along with information like available activities, where to book, and the types of sports each park offers. Get ready to plan your next adventure!
Final Touches: Tour Information and URL Actions
I also added a chart to display tour information, including how long each tour runs and a direct link to the national park’s booking page for easy access.
The final dashboard is simple, featuring just two main charts, but the real effort went into the Alteryx API connection setup. We had done API connections in the past, but it’d been a while, so it was a great chance to refresh those skills. It was good practice to pull information from a JSON file, especially since I was working with three endpoints to create multiple tables, all linked up in Tableau through relationships.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the dashboard.
