<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">SPUG,<div><br></div><div>I had originally composed this message as a personal message to Trevor and Gryphon, but thought it may be interesting to "data mungers" like you... like me.</div><div><br></div><div>The letter is a bit of a product endorsement, and a bit of my perspective on how primitive our data analysis tools and processes are. (To wit, all the Perl that needed to be hand tweaked for Trevor to produce his heat map, and the limitations of not being able to do what-if-anaysis on it after the fact. Not a criticism of him or his code, just an observation on the state-of-the-art/practice.)</div><div><br></div><div>If it appears too much like a crass product endorsement, please hit your delete key now. I mean it to be a helpful pointer to a great tool, albeit one that's relatively expensive by Open Source standards (though an EXCELLENT value).</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Gryphon,<div>Trevor,<br><div><br></div><div>Here's a promo for the company I mentioned the other night at SPUG. I got a trial a few months ago, and had a great time doing the what-if-analysis that can be so easy with this tool. Saying that it's "Excel on steroids" is missing the point. It's not a *better* Excel, it's a better metaphor for working with your data. Even if you don't end up using it for the heatmap customer, it may be a good analysis tool to have in your belt (or set of services). There are lots of geocoding applications built in. Since they're a Fremont company, you can see some good Seattle data in some of their free videos online, even without getting a trial.</div><div><br></div><div>And who knows. Maybe it's worth your while to play with it, become a data rock star, and get a following of heatmap groupies.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Michael</div><div><br></div><div>P.S. I first noticed this company at PS SIGCHI (pssigchi.org), where I was on the board for about 3 years. SIGCHI => Special Interest Group in Computer Human Interaction (a SIG of the ACM). Their graphical interface is awesome. It takes some getting used to, but only because we've been held as slaves in the kind of Perl we saw at SPUG or the kind of VB we need to know in order to work with Excel. Without those terribly restraining computer languages, we're free to use our natural visual analyzing abilities to interact with the *data* instead of the *programs* that transform the data. Tableau has gone to great lengths to take many "visual data analysis and design patterns" out of the programmer's head, encapsulating them (laziness-fashion) into a tool that we can re-use. Using it really had me realize that soooo much of what we saw this week at SPUG (and what I've done so many times over the years) is such digital ditch digging that we never really get to step back from the implementation to see the vision.</div><div><br></div><div>P.P.S. OK. Enough.... Can you tell I'm hooked? If you bang it around, please let me know what you think.</div><div><br></div><div><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">Tableau Software <<a href="mailto:visualanalysis@tableausoftware.com">visualanalysis@tableausoftware.com</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">February 20, 2009 8:21:49 AM PST</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica"><a href="mailto:michaelrwolf@att.net">michaelrwolf@att.net</a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica"><b>Extended Tableau Trial Now Available</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="4" color="#000000" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Reply-To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="4" style="font: 14.0px Helvetica">Tableau Software <<a href="mailto:visualanalysis@tableausoftware.com">visualanalysis@tableausoftware.com</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div> <!------------------------------------------------------ To view a web version of this email, copy this entire link into your browser: http://now.eloqua.com/e/es.aspx?s=840&e=f0d2c5ad1ccc4988a8d93a33bce78638&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF -------------------------------------------------------------><div><p align="left"><font face="Arial" size="1"><a style="COLOR: #ff6633;text-decoration:none;" href="http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=840&e=f0d2c5ad1ccc4988a8d93a33bce78638&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">If your email program has trouble displaying this email, view it as a web page +</a></font> </p> <table style="border-right-color: rgb(167, 169, 172); border-right-width: 1px; border-right-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(167, 169, 172); border-top-width: 1px; border-top-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(167, 169, 172); border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; width: 548px; border-bottom-color: rgb(167, 169, 172); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; " cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="548" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td> <div><img height="75" alt="Tableau Software" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/mkt/seminars/dma/i/tableau.gif" width="548"></div> <div style="WIDTH: 548px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #1f437d"><a href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=840&lid=253&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF"><img src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/mkt/img/data-rockstar.gif" alt="DATA ROCKSTAR" width="548" height="280" border="0"></a></div> <table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="548" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td colspan="3"></td></tr> <tr> <td width="15"></td> <td> <table style="font: normal normal normal 11px/17px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; position: static; z-index: auto; " cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="311"><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 18px; padding-bottom: 12px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(28, 67, 126); line-height: 20px; padding-top: 8px; ">Free Your Inner Data Rockstar</div><br><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; ">Hi Michael, <br><br> An extended Tableau Desktop trial is <a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=840&lid=253&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">now available.</a><br> <br> The longer evaluation is part of our Data Rockstar Viz Challenge. 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The paper may spark some ideas for your viz challenge submission.</div> </td><td valign="top" width="16"></td> <td valign="top" width="201"> <table style="FONT: 11px/15px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="218" bgcolor="#eff3f6" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="25"> </td> <td><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #1f437d; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> </p></td> <td width="15"> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="FONT: 11px/15px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="218" bgcolor="#eff3f6" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="4"><img height="1" src="i/s.gif" width="4"></td> <td valign="top" width="22"><img height="19" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/mkt/events/dma/i/rbar_arrow.gif" width="22"></td> <td width="144"><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/18px Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; ">Viz Challenge</div></td> <td width="48"> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="FONT: 4px/4px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="218" bgcolor="#eff3f6" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="161"><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #1f437d; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: rgb(31,67,125); PADDING-TOP: 0px"></p><table style="FONT: 12px/12px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="218" bgcolor="#eff3f6" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="25"> </td> <td width="161"><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: bold; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #1f437d; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> </p></td> <td width="32"> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="FONT: 11px/15px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="218" bgcolor="#eff3f6" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="25"> </td> <td width="193"><div style="padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(112, 153, 165); padding-top: 0px; ">Achieve Rockstar Status</div><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(117, 119, 131); padding-top: 0px; ">On March 2nd data will be made available to slice and dice with Tableau. Enter your best viz in the Data Rockstar Viz Challenge. </div> <br><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; "><a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=840&lid=252&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">Check out the viz challenge +<br></a><br><img height="1" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/files/mkt/img/rbar_hr.gif" width="171"><br><img height="1" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/files/mkt/img/s.gif" width="15"> </div><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(112, 153, 165); padding-top: 0px; ">Amazing Things</div><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(117, 119, 131); padding-top: 0px; ">See 18 amazing things you can <br> do with data.</div> <br><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; "><a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=840&lid=248&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">Watch videos +</a><br><br><img height="1" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/files/mkt/img/rbar_hr.gif" width="171"><br><img height="1" src="http://www.tableausoftware.com/files/mkt/img/s.gif" width="15"> <br></div><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(112, 153, 165); padding-top: 0px; ">Visual Examples</div><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; color: rgb(117, 119, 131); padding-top: 0px; ">Check out some fantastic examples <br>of well-done visualizations. Interact <br>with the data using Tableau Desktop.</div><br><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; "><a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/er.aspx?s=840&lid=63&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">Be inspired +</a></div><p style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> </p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td> <td width="5"></td></tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td><div style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-bottom: 36px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 10px/normal Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(167, 169, 172); padding-top: 36px; ">.</div></td> <td> </td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><img src="http://app.en25.com/e/FooterImages/FooterImage1.aspx?elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF&siteid=840" border="0" width="3px" height="3px"><img src="http://app.en25.com/e/FooterImages/FooterImage2.aspx?elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF&siteid=840" border="0" width="3px" height="3px"></div> <table style="FONT: 9px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; COLOR: #a7a9ac" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="548" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td> </td> <td> </td></tr> <tr> <td>Copyright © 2009 Tableau Software All Rights Reserved</td> <td> <div align="right">400 North 34th Street, Suite 200 Seattle, WA 98103</div></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#a7a9ac" size="1" font="">If you want to unsubscribe from similar email communications, click <a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/cu.aspx?s=840&elqc=7&ea=michaelrwolf@att.net&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">here</a>.<br>If you want to unsubscribe from all future Tableau Software email communications, click <a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://now.eloqua.com/e/u.aspx?s=840&elq=CA124D5414F145B29A7D93388254B6DF">here</a>. <br><br><a style="COLOR: #ff6633; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.tableausoftware.com/about/policies">Privacy Policy</a></font> </p><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div> </blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>-- </div><div>Michael R. Wolf</div><div> All mammals learn by playing!</div><div> <a href="mailto:MichaelRWolf@att.net">MichaelRWolf@att.net</a></div><div><br></div></div></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></div></body></html>