#SANTALYTICS Part 4

[TaraM]

Thanks for playing along in our Santalytics fun. Part 4 is here - let's see what you got. Creativity will be rewarded.

Now that we've declared our model as the new Santalytics paradigm, we need to break it down for Santa! He's not a data guy, after all. Can you help make a visualization that will map out Santa's route for him? You must use Alteryx for at least some of your process.

Goal of Part 4:
Visualize Santa's trip around the globe

Have fun

See all of our solutions here:

• November 30, 2016: #SANTALYTICS Part 1: Solution and Behind the Data
• December 7, 2016: #SANTALYTICS Part 2: Solution and Behind the Data
• December 14, 2016: #SANTALYTICS Part 3: Solution and Behind the Data
• December 21, 2016: #SANTALYTICS Part 4: Solution and Series Finale

[ggruccio]

The big night is here and the sleigh is full!

Santa started in New Zealand and worked his way around the globe for some rest and relaxation in Samoa after dropping off his last package.

The approach I used was to start with the easternmost hub and then get to the next closest location and then next closest and so-on.  This was done via iterative macro.  While some of the nearest choices are "interesting" Santa's sleigh is really fast!  Plus he had Rudolph to guide him.  

Once the data got into Tableau, creating the viz was a piece of cake using the "Path" functionality.  

Please see the attached .pdf with the viz, along with the workflow, macro, and an intermediate data file that I created.

[TaraM]

Awesome work @ggruccio! Thanks for sharing and playing along.

[cyientinsights]

I organized paths by timezones.  A simple viz that allows you to see flight path by timezones, although they are not optimized for efficiency.

[Philip]

I tried optimizing Santa's routek using timezone in two ways. First was optimized by finding the nearest location to the last delivery. The second was optimized by moving along latitude. Either way, Santa has some pretty funky routes!

Tableau dashboards showing routes

[JoeM]

I ran an iterative macro called "near-sighted Santa". In essence, I built a path that would show where Santa would go if he just went to the next closest stop, which is not necessarily an optimal route. Then, I built out a map on Carto to display Santa's path. Each 'bubble' being displayed represents a stop for Santa. Here is his night of work in 60 seconds.

Enhancements: Change the route to move with the 'shadow' of night.  Santa would probably work east to west from the International Date Line.

[ianweinstock]

Found the shapefile for the international dateline and minimized distance from it and worked north and west from there.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/ian.weinstock#!/vizhome/Santalytics/Dashboard1

[Philip]

That's a nice solution!

[Philip]

Cool Carto map!

[ianweinstock]

Ooooh, never seen Carto before.  This is going to be a lot of fun to play with :-)