Mar
19
Creating Polygon Hex Maps in Tableau
Hex map is quite popular for representing US geography in Tableau. Some asked how to create one for their own country or region. So here we will show the basic steps.
Hex map is a simplified way to represent a real map. It's an approximation. Some would say, even the "true map" is just an approximate representation of the reality, not the exact one.
Tableau Zen Master Matt Chambers proposed a Hex Map approach to US map. It looks great and seems better than tiled maps, because it tightly weaves all the State pieces together, thus looks a lot better. In a hex map, one state is neighbor to 6 states while in a tiled map, one state is neighboring 4 states.
But the hexagons are not close enough when using Tableau shapes. There left some gaps between states, especially when we resize the map.
Hex map is a simplified way to represent a real map. It's an approximation. Some would say, even the "true map" is just an approximate representation of the reality, not the exact one.
Tableau Zen Master Matt Chambers proposed a Hex Map approach to US map. It looks great and seems better than tiled maps, because it tightly weaves all the State pieces together, thus looks a lot better. In a hex map, one state is neighbor to 6 states while in a tiled map, one state is neighboring 4 states.
But the hexagons are not close enough when using Tableau shapes. There left some gaps between states, especially when we resize the map.
