Tableau
Running & Sport Dashboards
#BusinessIntelligence #Tableau
Creating a running and a sport dashboard using technologies like Strava, Google Sheets and flink.run to automatically refresh everyday.
The dashboards
Tableau being a tool I use extensively at Caterpillar, I wanted to design a dashboard using new data. Being an avid runner and not being completely satisfied with the information found on Garmin Connect or Strava, I decided to create my first running dashboard in 2019.
Link: Robin's Running Dashboard
In 2020, with the Covid-19 crisis and following a minor knee injury, I had to reduce my running and switch to other sports: indoor cycling, road/mountain biking, and hiking. I also wanted to include my winter activites (ski and ski touring) in the tracking, so I created a more general sport dashboard.
Link: Robin's Sport Dashboard
Process
I used several tools to create those dashboards.
Garmin Connect
First of all, I record my activities using a Garmin watch that uploads the activity to my smartphone via Bluetooth.
Strava
Automatically, my activities are sent to Strava, the famous fitness app / social network.
Flink.run
I found this intereresting webapp called flink.run that connects to the Strava API to retrieve your data. You can then export the data in different formats and even create a automatic daily upload to Google Sheets.
You can read my blog post on how to do it.
Google Sheets
Once my data are on Google Sheets and refresh daily, it is very easy to use them on Tableau!
Tableau Public
If you don't have the luxury of having a Tableau Desktop licence and a server, you can use Tableau Public and that's what I do. On Tableau Public, there is a storage limit and everybody can access your dashboard, so you might not want to publish you company private data.
The good thing about Tableau Public is that it is free and you can connect to.. Google Sheets! You can even refresh automatically your dashboard on a daily basis! So, once your setup is ready, you don't have to touch anything and your dashboard will refresh every day with your new activities. All you have to do is run & ride!