by Kayle Simpson, on May 12, 2016
Whether you're a total beginner just learning Tableau for the first time, or a seasoned "Zen Master" who wants to show off on Tableau Public - here are some fun, free data sets that you can use!
US Baby Names
This is a fun data set that anyone can relate to - everyone has a name (unless you're one of the Faceless Men, of course)! This set comes from Data.gov and is based on Social Security card applications from 1879 onward, being last updated in December 2015.
Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums of All Time
Music fans will love this one! If you're an active member of the Tableau Public community, you're probably already familiar with this data set, since it is part of the Tableau Public Gallery's "Greatest Hits." This is perfect for total beginners, because you already have an example of what a data visualization for this data set could look like! Tableau Public is a great source of inspiration and data - since you can download any data that is used and published there!
Professional Hockey Stats
Those of us in New England sure love our sports - especially hockey! This database is complete with statistics from all of the past and present professional hockey leagues, starting in the 1909/1910 season, up until the 2011/2012 season. If hockey isn't your thing, but you're a big sports fan, OpenSourceSports.com is filled with sports related data that is ripe for visualizing!
Star Wars API or SWAPI
As you can probably tell from my Game of Thrones reference earlier, we're all pretty nerdy here at Arkatechture. This is why I was so excited when I found this site! SWAPI is an open source Star Wars database filled with all of the information you could possibly want about all 7 core movies. And if Star Wars isn't your jam, the same guy built a Pokemon API, as well!
Top 100 Instagram Accounts
This is another newbie-friendly data set - it's really simple and easy to relate to, especially if you have a marketing background (like me!). Even better - this data set is updated constantly!
Makeover Monday
Looking for some regular practice and some serious portfolio building? Look no further than VizWiz's weekly Makeover Monday challenges! Every week, Andy Kriebel (VizWiz) posts a new data visualization and its data source to "makeover!" The best part is tweeting it out when you're done, and seeing what other vizzers have done! Check out this Makeover Monday viz our very own Katie Paige did about women's working hours around the world!
Feeling inspired yet? Now that you have some fun data sources to work with, we'd love to see what you come up with! Share your vizzes with us in the comments below, or on Twitter @Arkatechture !
