Data Visualization With kdb+ Using ODBC: A Tableau Case Study

By Michaela Woods

In our latest technical white paper KX engineer Michaela Woods writes about how to use kdb+ with an ODBC driver for data visualization. Dynamic, custom data visualizations are used for business intelligence (BI) tools across industries. While KX provides its own visualization tool, Dashboards for KX, clients may have incumbent solutions they wish to retain and independently connect to kdb+. Alternatively, many organizations may wish to migrate their backend database to kdb+ for increased efficiency and scalability, while at the same time retaining their existing visualization front end. In her paper, Michaela aims to provide guidance on how such integrations may be achieved.

Focusing on Tableau, a widely used BI tool, Michaela shows how it can be used to access kdb+ via ODBC.  Her paper illustrates the flexibility by which kdb+ data can be accessed by Tableau using ODBC and explains how kdb+’s caching feature may be used in this instance to improve performance by optimizing repeated queries. Guidelines on connection, setup, queries and advice on how to maximize performance are discussed throughout the paper. For both new and existing users, this paper aims to reduce the learning curve, boost efficiency and increase usability when combining these two technologies.

You can read the full paper on the KX Developers’ site here.