# Outline Spatial Function For Tableau | New in Tableau 2023.2

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2023-07-29
- **Format:** Video · 8 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation, Analytics
- **Tools:** Tableau (calculated fields, maps, outline, public)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/outline-spatial-function-for-tableau-new-in-tableau-2023-2
- **Watch:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUYvVaN3FMI

I walk through the new OUTLINE spatial function in Tableau 2023.2, which converts polygons into line strings so they can be styled individually. Using London borough shape file data in Tableau Public, I show how to load geometry, build the outline calculation, and point you to further conditional-logic examples.

## Key takeaways

- The OUTLINE function only works on polygons and returns line strings, so each boundary can be styled and hovered individually without the whole fill activating
- 2023.2 also adds shape type (pivoting on geometry type) and length (calculating routes and journey distances) spatial enhancements
- Shape files are zipped collections that Tableau decompresses, exposing a geometry column holding paths, points or polygons
- Because OUTLINE is a function, you can build conditional logic on top of it - for example outlining only selected regions while keeping the original polygon as a shape layer
- You can follow along with the free Mayor of London statistical GIS boundary files, and find the full functions in Tableau's spatial functions documentation

## Chapters

- 0:00 Spatial enhancements overview
- 0:55 Loading the London shape file
- 2:12 Visualising the geometry column
- 2:40 Building the OUTLINE calculation
- 4:10 Extending with conditional logic
- 5:26 Finding data and release notes

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/outline-spatial-function-for-tableau-new-in-tableau-2023-2

---
just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena