Build Maps & Dashboards with BigQuery: A Step-by-Step Guide

Connect BigQuery with Felt for instant maps and performant data dashboards.

BigQuery: the gold standard for scalable analytics

In the world of data analytics, Google's serverless, highly scalable data warehouse has become a favorite for analytics. BigQuery includes native support for geospatial data types and functions through its GEOGRAPHY type. It enables efficient analysis of large-scale geospatial datasets using SQL and now integrates directly with Felt for performant, powerful visualizations and app development.

Felt: Innovating the Mapping Landscape

At Felt, we're committed to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in geospatial technology. Our platform has been continuously evolving, introducing features that make mapping and spatial analysis more accessible and powerful than ever before. Today, we're thrilled to announce our latest innovation: direct integration with BigQuery.

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Connecting BigQuery to Felt: A Simple Guide

Connect BigQuery directly with Felt for instant maps and location data analysis.

Getting BigQuery data visualized in Felt is now easier than ever. Here's how you can set it up in just a few steps:

Create a new, read-only user on your BigQuery database for Felt access.
In Felt, click on the Library in the toolbar.
Click "+ New Source" and select "BigQuery".
Enter your connection details, including host, port, database name, and credentials.
Click "Connect", and voilà! You'll see a catalog of your data with previews.
Make it live from the layer preview at a refresh cadence of your choice.

Once connected, you can easily add any of these layers to your spatial dashboards, bringing your database directly into your Felt workspace.

Unleashing the Power of Your Location Data with Components

But we didn't stop at just connecting your database. Felt's integration with BigQuery unlocks a whole new world of possibilities, including our powerful Components feature. Components allow you to create interactive and informative dashboards that bring your BigQuery data to life.

Build live maps and dashboards in minutes for your whole team to use.

Here's what you can do:

Statistic Component: Quickly summarize numeric values into essential metrics. Whether you need to show the count of features or calculate sums, averages, minimums, maximums, or medians, this component provides instant insights.
Bar Chart Component: Visualize and compare categories effortlessly. Perfect for comparing sales performance across different regions or visualizing user demographics.
Histogram Component: Identify data patterns and trends by displaying frequency distributions. Great for understanding the spread of data points, such as age distributions or elevation profiles.
Filter Component: Drill down into your data with on-the-fly filtering. Use dropdown menus for categorical data or sliders for numeric ranges, allowing users to focus on the most relevant information.
Time Series Component: Explore spatial trends over time with an intuitive time slider. Ideal for tracking changes in your data across different time periods, from hourly traffic patterns to yearly temperature variations.

Unlike business intelligence tools like Tableau, Felt’s Components were built from the ground up to handle spatial data analysis. These components work seamlessly with your BigQuery data tables, updating in real-time as you pan and zoom your map or apply filters. This dynamic interaction between your database and Felt's visualization tools opens up new avenues for insight and decision-making.

See how easy it is to map your BigQuery location data in Felt.

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More Than Just a Connection

Built to address all your location data use cases.

Our BigQuery integration is designed to make your workflow as smooth as possible:

Live Data Updates: Keep your maps, dashboards, and components in sync with your database. Set up automatic refreshes or update on demand.
Geomatching and Geocoding: Leverage Felt's advanced features to enrich your BigQuery datasets, matching geometries or adding location data to your tables.
Collaborative Mapping: Share your BigQuery layers and interactive dashboards with your team, fostering collaboration and insights across your organization.
Automatic Field Population: Felt intelligently populates fields based on your BigQuery data structure.
Granular Access Control: We're working on an allowlist feature to give you fine-grained control over who can access your BigQuery data within Felt.
Extendable API: Use Felt’s API to accelerate your BigQuery workflows. Update layers programmatically, take advantage of webhooks to trigger actions in your database, leverage the Python SDK, and more.

By bringing BigQuery and Felt together, we're creating a powerful ecosystem for spatial data analysis and visualization. Whether you're a city planner working with infrastructure data, a researcher analyzing environmental patterns, or a business intelligence expert mapping market trends, this integration opens up new avenues for insight and decision-making.

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to enhance this integration. We can't wait to see what you'll create with the combined power of BigQuery and Felt!

Ready to supercharge your spatial data analysis? Contact our sales team to learn more about how Felt's BigQuery integration can transform your workflow.

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