16.17. Location Exploration Case Study with BigQuery and Looker Studio

In this advanced lesson, we'll explore a case study that demonstrates the power of using dynamic custom queries with Looker Studio and BigQuery. We will use parameters to obtain latitude and longitude data, allowing users to find people within a certain distance of their chosen coordinates.

Dynamic Custom Queries in Action

Imagine you have a business that wants to analyze the number of people living within a specific radius from given latitude and longitude coordinates. To accomplish this, you can create a dynamic query in Looker Studio that runs against BigQuery.

First, let's define three parameters: latitude, longitude, and distance. Users will input these values in the Looker Studio interface.

Next, incorporate the user-defined parameters into your custom query. This allows for real-time adjustments based on user input.

For example, let's say you input 41 as the latitude value and 75 as the longitude value (it doesn't matter if it falls within the US or not). The dynamic query will then calculate how many people live within a 20-mile radius of these coordinates.

Results and Insights

Once your dynamic query returns results in Looker Studio, you can visualize them on an interactive map or chart. In our example above, we discovered that there are approximately 234,000 people within a 20-mile radius of our chosen point.

By leveraging dynamic querying with BigQuery through Looker Studio, businesses can gain valuable insights into their target audience or potential customers based on location data.

Without this powerful combination of tools, it would be nearly impossible to create such an interactive experience for users seeking location-based information.

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