How can I connect to Spatial data stored in Google BigQuery using Tableau 2026.2?
According to the Tableau knowledge base I should be able to work with GEOGRAPHY columns when connecting to Google BigQuery directly.
However I seem to not see the spatial data when connecting.
I created a test table, to ensure I do not bring in anything but what I want to test. However when dragging in this table the query I can see Tableau uses to fetch the data only select string, float and integers none of the GEOGRAPHY columns.
When transforming to Custom SQL, and if I hard-code 1 column manually to ensure it is sent, I can see Tableau wraps this into a sub-query. Whilst the outer query is still only selecting non-Geography columns.
What can I do to connect to spatial data, is there anything I am missing?
The demo table is build using this query:
SELECT
1 AS id,
-- 1. BigQuery GEOGRAPHY: POINT
ST_GEOGPOINT(5.16, 52.77) AS geography_point,
-- 2. BigQuery GEOGRAPHY: LINESTRING
ST_GEOGFROMTEXT(
'LINESTRING(5.10 52.70, 5.20 52.75, 5.30 52.80)'
) AS geography_linestring,
-- 3. BigQuery GEOGRAPHY: POLYGON
ST_GEOGFROMTEXT(
'POLYGON((5.0 52.0, 5.1 52.0, 5.1 52.1, 5.0 52.1, 5.0 52.0))'
) AS geography_polygon,
-- 4. WKT als STRING: POINT
'POINT(5.16 52.77)' AS wkt_point,
-- 5. WKT als STRING: LINESTRING
'LINESTRING(5.10 52.70, 5.20 52.75, 5.30 52.80)' AS wkt_linestring,
-- 6. WKT als STRING: POLYGON
'POLYGON((5.0 52.0, 5.1 52.0, 5.1 52.1, 5.0 52.1, 5.0 52.0))' AS wkt_polygon,
-- 7. Latitude als FLOAT64
52.77 AS latitude,
-- 8. Longitude als FLOAT64
5.16 AS longitude,
-- 9. NULL GEOGRAPHY
CAST(NULL AS GEOGRAPHY) AS geography_null,
-- 10. GEOGRAPHY via expliciete cast
CAST(
ST_GEOGFROMTEXT(
'POLYGON((5.4 52.0, 5.5 52.0, 5.5 52.1, 5.4 52.1, 5.4 52.0))'
)
AS GEOGRAPHY
) AS geography_cast
Table in BigQuery
When converting to Custom query this is the query in Tableau
When adding geography_point Tableau sends the query as this, with the column in the sub-query but nothing in the outer query
#Tableau Desktop & Web Authoring
Hi, have you tried with the most recent release?:
https://www.tableau.com/support/releases/desktop/2026.2.2The help document states you should use 2026.2 or newer:
https://www.tableau.com/support/releases/desktop/2026.2.2Thus maybe you are working with 2026.0 or 2026.1. If you still have problems, you may create a support case:
https://help.salesforce.com/s/casesIf this post resolves the question, would you be so kind to "Accept this Answer"?. This will help other users find the same answer/resolution and help community keep track of answered questions. Thank you.
Regards,
Diego Martinez
Tableau Visionary and Tableau Ambassador