Creating a Tableau Public dashboard is a process of adding the various elements (starting with worksheets), onto the dashboard canvas, adding titles, configuring filters, titles, and layout, and then modifying the behavior of the dashboard.
Now, we will build a dashboard from simple visualizations that were created by using the Climate Change data that was published by the World Bank and which is available at http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/climate-change. It's structured in a way that is similar to that of the other data sources that we are using. You can download the sample dashboards from https://public.tableau.com/views/Chaper7-Dashboards/CO2EmissionsDashboard. We will use the data sources that we have discussed in the previous chapters to build sample dashboards so that you can download the source files to practice.
Our workbook includes a summary map of carbon dioxide emissions by country in 2008, as well as a line graph that shows change over time as regards the total emissions and emissions per capita by region. Lastly, it contains a heat map that shows the foreign aid distributed for generic programs by the United States by year.
The objective of this section is to build a dashboard that allows users to navigate from high-level areas of interest, that is, outliers, to more detailed data to identify causation.
To start the dashboard creation process, click on the dashboard tab at the bottom of the Tableau Public interface. The dashboard tab is the tab with an icon of a rectangle divided into four quadrants, which is outlined in the following screenshot.
You can also browse Dashboard | New Dashboard from the Menu bar:
When you select the dashboard tab, the dashboard view is displayed. This is the interface that allows you to build and configure dashboards from the worksheets that you have already created in this workbook. To the left of the window are the available worksheets. From the left side of the window, you can also add to the dashboard various supporting elements such as text boxes, labels, web page windows, and images. To the right is the canvas area of the dashboard, where sheets and objects are dragged to, arranged, and configured.