Tableau has a mapping functionality, and is able to plot latitude and longitude coordinates and connect to spatial files like Esri Shapefiles, KML, and GeoJSON to display custom geography. The built-in geo-coding allows for administrative places, postal codes, US Congressional Districts, US CBSA/MSA, Area Codes, Airports, and European Union statistical areas to be mapped automatically. You can group geographies to create custom territories or use custom geocoding to extend existing geographic roles in the product.
History
Tableau was founded in 2003 by Pat Hanrahan, Christian Chabot, and Chris Stolte, and moved its headquarters to the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, the following year. The company has since expanded its Fremont headquarters and announced plans in 2016 for an auxiliary campus in suburban Kirkland, Washington. A new headquarters building opened near Gas Works Park in Wallingford in March 2017 and was followed by a new building in Fremont that opened in 2018. In August 2016, Tableau announced the appointment of Adam Selipsky as president and CEO, effective September 16, 2016, replacing co-founder Christian Chabot as CEO. In June 2018, Tableau acquired Empirical Systems, a Cambridge, Massachusetts based artificial intelligence startup, with plans to integrate the company's technology into the Tableau platform. Tableau also announced plans to establish an office in Cambridge as a result of the deal. On June 10, 2019, Tableau was acquired by Salesforce in an all stock deal worth over $15 billion.
Finances
On May 17, 2013, Tableau launched an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, raising more than $250 million. Prior to its IPO, Tableau raised over $45 million in venture capital investment from investors such as the NEA and Meritech. The company's 2013 revenue reached $232.44 million, an 82% growth over 2012's $128 million. In 2010, Tableau reported revenue of $34.2 million. That figure grew to $62.4 million in 2011 and $127.7 million in 2012. Profit during the same periods came to $2.7 million, $3.4 million, and $1.6 million, respectively. On June 10, 2019, Salesforce.com announced that they would be acquiring Tableau in a $15.7 billion deal.
Wikileaks and policy changes
On December 2, 2010, Tableau deleted WikiLeaks's visualizations about the United States diplomatic cables leak, stating it was due to direct political pressure from US Senator Joe Lieberman. On February 21, 2011, Tableau posted an updated data policy. The accompanying blog post cited the two main changes as creating a formal complaint process and using freedom of speech as a guiding principle. In addition, the post announced the creation of an advisory board to help the company navigate future situations that "push the boundaries" of the policy. Tableau likened the new policy to the model set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and opined that under the new policy, Wikileaks' visuals would not have been removed, as "the underlying data were statistics about the cables, not the cables themselves".
