Business Intelligence with Looker Cookbook E-Book

Khrystyna Grynko

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 255

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Looker is a data analytics and business intelligence platform that allows organizations to explore, analyze, and visualize their data. It provides tools for data modeling, exploration, and visualization, enabling you to gain insights from your data to make informed business decisions.
You’ll start with the basics, from setting up your Looker environments to configuring views and models using LookML. As you progress, you’ll delve into more advanced topics, such as navigating data in Explore, tailoring dashboards to your needs, and adding dynamic elements for interactivity. Along the way, you'll gain invaluable troubleshooting skills to tackle common issues and optimize your Looker usage, ensuring a smooth and seamless experience. Furthermore, the book extends your understanding beyond the basics, equipping you with the knowledge you need to develop Looker applications and seamlessly integrate them with other tools and applications. You'll also explore advanced techniques for harnessing Looker's full potential, empowering you to establish data-driven decision-making and innovation within your organization.
By the end of this BI book, you'll have gained a solid understanding of how to use Looker to find important information, make tasks easier, and derive important insights.

Leseprobe

Business Intelligence with Looker Cookbook

Create BI solutions and data applications to explore and share insights in real time

Khrystyna Grynko

Business Intelligence with Looker Cookbook

Copyright © 2024 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing or its dealers and distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Group Product Manager: Kaustubh Manglurkar

Publishing Product Manager: Heramb Bhavsar

Book Project Manager: Kirti Pisat

Senior Editor: Gowri Rekha

Technical Editor: Seemanjay Ameriya

Copy Editor: Safis Editing

Proofreader: Gowri Rekha

Indexer: Pratik Shirodkar

Production Designer: Prafulla Nikalje

DevRel Marketing Coordinator: Nivedita Singh

First published: May 2024

Production reference: 1190424

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Grosvenor House 11 St Paul’s Square Birmingham B3 1RB, UK

ISBN 978-1-80056-095-6

www.packtpub.com

To the entire Looker team – both the creators and those who constantly work to make it better

– thank you.

Contributors

About the author

Khrystyna Grynko is a data analyst and Looker expert with over 10 years of experience. She is passionate about helping businesses use data to make better decisions.

Khrystyna began her career as a digital marketer. She quickly realized the power of data to drive business decisions and decided to pursue a career in data analysis.

After graduating from Lumière University Lyon 2 with a Master’s degree in BI, Khrystyna worked as a data analyst at several companies, where she helped businesses use data to solve real-world problems.

Khrystyna is a frequent speaker at industry events and has written numerous articles on data and Looker. She is also a mentor and coach to other data professionals. With a passion for teaching, Khrystyna is both an author of an online BigQuery course and a lecturer at multiple French universities and business schools.

About the reviewers

Maire Newton is an outbound product manager for Looker at Google Cloud and an expert in data modeling and visualization. She’s passionate about helping customers develop data-driven cultures by using technology to meet users where they are. As a former consultant, Maire has over 15 years of experience partnering with organizations to develop data solutions and drive digital transformation.

Boris Glazman is a pre-sales engineer with an extensive background in the architecture of data and advanced analytics solutions, machine learning, and BI.

The first 15 years of his career he spent on Wall Street and in the City of London developing trading, middle-, and back-office systems for the biggest investment banks and wealth management institutions. When he moved to Paris, he began working with software vendors, primarily on all things data, BI, and machine learning.

Currently, Boris works at Google Cloud as a member of the Expert Data and Analytics Customer Engineering team, specializing in Looker. A major part of his job is to act as a technical advocate for Google Cloud prospects and customers.

Alex Christiansen is a customer engineer at Google, specializing in the Looker platform. With over four years of experience, he thrives on finding technical solutions to empower his customers. When not at work, Alex embraces the outdoors through running, golfing, snowboarding, and traveling.

Luka Fontanilla is a data product and AI solutions professional with a strong passion for helping organizations unlock the full potential of their data assets. He specializes in crafting data-driven application experiences that deliver tangible value. His expertise includes developing robust data monetization strategies and seamlessly integrating AI capabilities to empower client-facing applications.

Skander Larbi is a data analytics and AI solutions leader at Google Cloud, helping global clients transform ideas into market-leading products. With a focus on strategic results since joining Looker in 2017, he drives GTM success, sales growth, and pre-sales initiatives for clients ranging from innovative startups to Fortune-500 companies and international powerhouses.

Table of Contents

Preface

1

Getting Started with Looker

Technical requirements

Getting access to Looker

How to do it...

There’s more...

Providing access to your team

How to do it...

See also

Connecting to data in Looker

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building a LookML project

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Connecting Looker to Git

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

Making and saving changes in views

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Creating a LookML model and Explore

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Building visualizations (Looks) from Explores

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Creating a dashboard from a Look

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

2

Configuring Views and Models in a LookML Project

Technical requirements

Creating dimensions in views

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

Creating measures in views

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Describing data in LookML views

Getting ready

How to do it...

Working with filters in LookML views

Getting ready

How to do it...

Joining tables in models

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Adding advanced model parameters

How to do it…

There’s more...

See also

Working with LookML files

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with geodata in LookML

Getting ready

How to do it...

Reusing the LookML code

Getting ready

How to do it...

3

Working with Data in Explores

Technical requirements

Exploring parameters in the model

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Advanced filtering in Explores

How to do it...

See also

Custom fields

How to do it...

See also

Pivoting and table manipulations in Explores

How to do it...

See also

Editing visualizations

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Merging data from multiple Explores

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Sharing Explores

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

4

Customizing and Serving Dashboards

Technical requirements

Adding visualizations to dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Adding text and markdown to dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with buttons in dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it...

Filtering and cross-filtering in dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with settings in dashboards

How to do it...

How it works…

See also

Serving dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

5

Making Dashboards Interactive through Dynamic Elements

Technical requirements

Working with links

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with HTML parameters

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Working with Liquid parameters in labels

How to do it...

See also

Working with dynamic SQL

How to do it...

There’s more...

Working with actions

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

6

Troubleshooting Looker

Technical requirements

Troubleshooting LookML errors

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Exploring the Content Validator

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Troubleshooting SQL through SQL Runner

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Data tests

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Other ways to solve common Looker problems

How to do it...

See also

7

Integrating Looker with Other Applications

Accessing Looker from Google Sheets

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Accessing Looker from Looker Studio

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Exploring other third-party integrations

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

8

Organizing the Looker Environment

Technical requirements

Exploring the Looker home page, favorites, and boards

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Organizing Looker folders

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Facilitate Looker exploration with Looker Marketplace applications

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Organizing the LookML environment

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

9

Administering and Monitoring Looker

Technical requirements

Configuring principal settings

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Managing users in a granular way

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Analyzing system activity

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

See also

Exploring advanced settings

See also

10

Preparing to Develop Looker Applications

Understanding Looker APIs

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Embedding Looker

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There’s more...

See also

Exploring the Looker extension framework

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Exploring components

Getting ready

How to do it...

See also

Exploring the Looker Marketplace

Getting ready

How to do it...

There’s more...

See also

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

This book offers a comprehensive guide to mastering Looker, a powerful cloud-based business intelligence platform. You’ll learn the fundamentals of setting up your Looker account and creating LookML projects, along with the art of exploring data and crafting impactful dashboards. Additionally, the book delves into advanced techniques including dashboard interactivity, troubleshooting, application development, content organization, and seamless integration with other tools. By the end, you’ll have the skills to harness Looker’s full potential for data analysis, visualization, and customized data-driven solutions.

Who this book is for

This book is the perfect guide for beginners wanting to master business intelligence with Looker, offering step-by-step instructions for navigating the platform. It will teach you how to master Looker’s powerful features to solve business problems and make smarter decisions.

This book offers a beginner-friendly yet thorough introduction to Looker, making it perfect for data analysts, BI engineers, data scientists, and anyone eager to explore data modeling, visualization, analysis, and reporting with Looker.

Due to the newness of Looker’s latest AI features and limited availability, they are not included in this book.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Getting Started with Looker, introduces Looker, a powerful BI tool within the Google Cloud Platform, and guides you through setting up access, connecting data, and building your first visualizations.

Chapter 2, Configuring Views and Models in a LookML Project , teaches you how to master the essential components of a Looker project: crafting dimensions and measures in views, joining tables in models, and refining LookML code for optimal data usage.

Chapter 3, Working with Data in Explores, teaches you how to design Explores for optimal data presentation, manipulate datasets, merge results, and craft compelling visualizations for informed decision-making.

Chapter 4, Customizing and Serving Dashboards, guides you through creating interactive, insightful Looker dashboards that combine visualizations, text, and filters for a comprehensive view of your data.

Chapter 5, Making Dashboards Interactive through Dynamic Elements, teaches you to leverage Liquid templating within LookML, creating dynamic links, HTML elements, custom labels, and SQL queries for highly interactive Looker dashboards.

Chapter 6, Troubleshooting Looker, teaches you to diagnose and resolve Looker issues from LookML errors to SQL queries, maintaining a seamless data analytics experience.

Chapter 7, Integrating Looker with Other Applications, explores how Looker seamlessly integrates with external applications such as Google Sheets, Looker Studio, and others, streamlining data workflows and analysis.

Chapter 8, Organizing the Looker Environment, helps you to master Looker content management, including folders, favorites, boards, and Looker Marketplace applications, optimizing navigation and discovery within your Looker instance.

Chapter 9, Administering and Monitoring Looker, empowers you to master Looker administration, covering user management, system monitoring, and advanced settings for optimal control of your data analytics environment.

Chapter 10, Preparing to Develop Looker Applications, introduces you to the tools for building custom applications powered by Looker, exploring APIs, embedding options, the extension framework, components, and the Marketplace.

To get the most out of this book

This book is perfect for beginners – no prior Looker knowledge is needed!

A basic understanding of how data is organized in databases will be helpful but is not necessary.

You’ll need a Google account to access Google Cloud and request a Looker trial instance. We’ll guide you through the setup process.

Be prepared to learn LookML! This book offers a step-by-step introduction to Looker’s data modeling language, helping you build your first models and visualizations.

To access Looker, you don’t need to install anything; a web browser is enough.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the example code files

You can find the code snippets for this book on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Business-Intelligence-with-Looker-Cookbook/. If there’s an update to the code, it will be updated in the GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “If you know what the WHERE and HAVING commands do in SQL, it is easy to understand the difference between the sql_always_where and sql_always_having parameters.”

A block of code is set as follows:

  dimension: age_group {     type: tier     tiers: [18, 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90]     sql: ${age} ;;     style: classic   }

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

<iframe     src="(add your Embed URL here)"     width="600"     height="3600"     frameborder="0"> </iframe>

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “Make sure you are in the Explore environment in the Orders and Users Explore.”

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

Get in touch

Feedback from our readers is always welcome.

General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, email us at [email protected] and mention the book title in the subject of your message.

Errata: Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you have found a mistake in this book, we would be grateful if you would report this to us. Please visit www.packtpub.com/support/errata and fill in the form.

Piracy: If you come across any illegal copies of our works in any form on the internet, we would be grateful if you would provide us with the location address or website name. Please contact us at [email protected] with a link to the material.

If you are interested in becoming an author: If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, please visit authors.packtpub.com.

Share Your Thoughts

Once you’ve read Business Intelligence with Looker Cookbook, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Please click here to go straight to the Amazon review page for this book and share your feedback..

Your review is important to us and the tech community and will help us make sure we’re delivering excellent quality content.

Download a free PDF copy of this book

Thanks for purchasing this book!

Do you like to read on the go but are unable to carry your print books everywhere?

Is your e-book purchase not compatible with the device of your choice?

Don’t worry!, Now with every Packt book, you get a DRM-free PDF version of that book at no cost.

Read anywhere, any place, on any device. Search, copy, and paste code from your favorite technical books directly into your application.

The perks don’t stop there, you can get exclusive access to discounts, newsletters, and great free content in your inbox daily

Follow these simple steps to get the benefits:

Scan the QR code or visit the following link:

https://packt.link/free-ebook/9781800560956

Submit your proof of purchase.That’s it! We’ll send your free PDF and other benefits to your email directly.

1

Getting Started with Looker

“Just as Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful, Looker’s is to do the same for your business data so that you can build insight-powered workflows and applications.”

This is how the Welcome to Looker page greets you. Looker is one of the products of the Google Cloud BI family. The Google Cloud BI family also includes Looker Studio (Free and Pro versions), which was created by Google in 2016 and used to be called Google Data Studio. This book focuses on Looker, and Looker Studio won't be covered.

Looker is an advanced business intelligence (BI) solution acquired by Google in 2019. It is part of Google Cloud Platform. In order to start using it, you need to fill in the Contact Sales form and wait for the free trial to be created for you by someone from the Google Cloud sales team. At the time of writing this book, it is still the process to follow.

You can contact the sales team to get some help with your Looker exploration, but this book aims to make you autonomous in your Looker journey.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following recipes:

Getting access to LookerProviding access to your teamConnecting to data in LookerBuilding a LookML projectConnecting Looker to GitMaking and saving changes in viewsCreating a LookML model and an ExploreBuilding Looks from ExploresCreating a dashboard from a Look

Technical requirements

In this chapter, we’ll be working with the Looker (Google Cloud core), built on Google Cloud infrastructure – therefore, you have nothing to install. You just need internet access, a browser, and a Google (personal or professional) account to access the Google Cloud console.

Getting access to Looker

In this recipe, you will discover how to get access to the Looker environment and start working in it. As mentioned in the introduction, we’ll focus on Looker (Google Cloud core), which is available from the Google Cloud console.

How to do it...

The steps for this recipe are as follows:

Let’s start by going to the Google Cloud website: https://cloud.google.com/?hl=en. Once on the website, check whether you’re connected with your Gmail account by checking your Gmail profile photo in the top-right corner. Make sure that you’re connected with the email account you want to use for your Looker tests. If all is good, in the same top-right corner, click on Console (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1 – Google Cloud home page

After clicking on Console, you will be redirected to the Google Cloud environment where you will need to choose your country, read and accept the Terms of Service, and click Agree and Continue.Note that you might be redirected to a Console page in a different language (your local language, for example). To follow the book’s guidelines easily, it is preferable to switch to the English version – you can do that in your Google account settings (https://myaccount.google.com/) or, on the first Google Cloud page where you clicked on Console, there was an option to choose the language before going to the console (check the top-right corner in Figure 1.1).If it’s your first time working within Google Cloud, you will need to create your first project by clicking on Create Project on the right (on the Google Cloud Welcome window after clicking on Agree and Continue). If you already have projects in your Google Cloud environment, you might still want to create a new one for your Looker experiment.After clicking on Create Project, you will need to choose a project name (or keep the default one) and organization, if you have one created – you might have one if you’re using your professional account. If not, keep the default No Organization option. Click CREATE to finalize the project creation (Figure 1.2). A Google Cloud project is a way to organize your resources and applications in Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It is a billing and access control entity. By creating a project, you can group your GCP resources together and control who has access to them. You can always switch between your projects in the top-left corner.

Figure 1.2 – Project creation

When you’re on the Welcome page with your project chosen in the top-left corner, you can continue the activation of your free trial for your Google Cloud (GC) environment by clicking on START FREE in the top-right corner.On the Step 1 of 2 Account Information page (Figure 1.3), choose your country, and your organization or needs (there is an Other option if you don’t know yet), and then read and accept the Terms of Service.

Figure 1.3 – Account information

On the Step 2 of 2 page (Figure 1.4), you will need to provide your billing information. There is no autocharge after the free trial ends. Google only asks you for your credit card to make sure you are not a robot. If you use a credit or debit card, you won’t be charged unless you manually upgrade to a paid account.

Figure 1.4 – Payment information

Google will verify your billing information; this is usually done through your banking application.Now, you’ll need to fill in a small questionnaire to help GC serve you better.Let’s finally get to Looker! Search for Looker either in the Search bar or by clicking on the hamburger button on the left (Figure 1.5). You can pin the Looker service in the hamburger menu to have it always at the top of your list.

Important note

Currently, to initiate a Looker free trial within your GC console, you’ll need to contact Looker sales directly. You can do this through the following form: https://cloud.google.com/resources/looker-free-trial.

Figure 1.5 – Search bar

When you are on the Looker Welcome page, click on CREATE AN INSTANCE (Figure 1.6) to create your Looker instance. Important: To avoid any billing surprises, confirm your free Looker trial is active before creating your instance. You can check the trial status by contacting a Looker sales representative. A Looker instance is a dedicated, isolated environment for running Looker. Looker instances allow users to connect to data sources, model data, explore data, visualize data, share data, and embed analytics.

Figure 1.6 – Looker Welcome page

If you see a popup that says Enable required APIs, click on Enable. The Looker (Google Cloud core) API is a RESTful API that allows you to programmatically interact with your Looker instance.

On the page that will open after you enable the required APIs or after you click on CREATE AN INSTANCE, choose your instance name, then add your OAuth Application Credentials details to access your instance (Figure 1.7). You will need to create your OAuth application credentials in advance. To do this, open a new tab, go to the GC console, click on the menu button in the top - left corner and search for API & Services and click on it ->then click on Credentials -> then click on Create credentials (choose the Web application option) -> then choose OAuth client ID. It might ask you to create an OAuth consent screen where you will need to provide the app name and your email address in the Support and Developer section and keep the default values for the rest.

Once your client ID is created, go back to your instance creation form and add your newly created credentials there. Finally, choose a region (if you can’t find your country, choose the one that is closer to you geographically) and click CREATE. The creation can take up to 1 hour.

Important note

After the free trial, your instance may be automatically converted to a paid Looker instance. Please confirm this with your Looker sales representative.

Figure 1.7 – Looker instance creation

When the instance is created, you will see your Looker instance link in the Instance URL column (Figure 1.8).

Figure 1.8 – Instance URL

Troubleshooting Instance URL Errors

To avoid getting an error when clicking on the instance URL (such as, for example, Error 400: redirect_uri_mismatch), check the following elements:

You connected with the right Google account (when you’re connected with multiple Gmail accounts, the one that is used when you open the instance URL in the new tab might not be the one that has access to your Looker and GC environment)In APIs & Services, make sure you created your OAuth credentials for the Web applicationIn APIs & Services, make sure you added your Looker instance URL plus /oauth2callback in Authorized redirect URIs (Figure 1.9)In APIs & Services, make sure you added looker.app as the authorized domain on your OAuth consent screen (click Edit App to add it)

Figure 1.9 – Authorized redirect URIs

There’s more...

It is possible to get access to Looker through labs, as a way to test Looker without creating your own GC environment and without setting up a free trial. You can create an account on the Cloud Skills Boost website (https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/) and find free Looker quests and labs (make sure it is Looker and not Looker Studio). The labs on Cloud Skills Boost give you access to the sandbox environment with the data prepared for you. The labs give you a step-by-step exercise and teach you how to use Looker. The inconvenience is that you have limited time for your exercise. Additionally, you cannot work with your data and with your team on one project in the lab. These labs are only for training purposes and give you a good start in understanding the Looker environment.

For more in-depth exploration, you can combine the lab training and this book.

Providing access to your team

When you create your first Looker instance, you become its owner and administrator. You can then provide access to the rest of your team. Remember, by default, with the Standard edition, Looker gives you 12 free user allocations with the Standard version – 2 developers and 10 standard users. The Standard edition is tailored for small teams with up to 50 internal platform users.

For your free trial space, it is best to add only the colleagues who will actively participate in testing Looker with you.

How to do it...

To add your colleagues to your Looker free trial instance you will need to do the following:

In the GC console, go to the IAM & Admin section.Click on the IAM tab.Click on GRANT ACCESS (Figure 1.10).

Figure 1.10 – Cloud IAM

In New principals, add an email (should be a Google account) or multiple emails of your co-testers.In Select a role, type Looker to filter, then assign your colleagues the same Looker role you have (for example, Looker Admin) to ensure they have the same level of access as you during the trial.Send the Looker instance URL to the person that you provided access to (to find your instance URL, see Figure 1.8).When they click on the link or copy and paste it into the browser, they will be asked to authenticate with their Google account.Once authenticated, your colleagues will see the same Looker Welcome page you saw when first connected to Looker.

Important note

When managing user permissions in Looker, it’s important to grant access based on specific needs. While collaboration is key, admin access should be reserved cautiously. For most colleagues, assigning “Looker instance user” status is sufficient.

See also

Other (more advanced) user roles and connection options will be discussed later in this book:Chapter 9, Administering and Monitoring Looker.

Connecting to data in Looker

You’ll need to connect Looker to the data source to start working on your data models, visualizations, and so on. Looker supports over 30 dialects – therefore, it can connect to more than 30 types of databases and data warehouses. The full list of dialects is here: https://cloud.google.com/looker/docs/looker-core-dialects#supported-dialects-for. In this book, we will use the connection to BigQuery. BigQuery is Google’s fully managed, serverless data warehouse that enables scalable analysis over petabytes of data. BigQuery is quite known as well for its native connection with Google Analytics.

How to do it...

Let’s explore BigQuery first. The steps for this are as follows:

In your GC console, search for BigQuery in the search bar at the top of the console or in the navigation menu (represented by three horizontal lines) on the left side of the console and you should see your project name in the Explorer section (in our case, it’s lookerbook, but you might have a different name).

Figure 1.11 – BigQuery welcome page

In the Explorer section, click on the three dots near your project name (lookerbook in the preceding figure) and click on Create dataset (Figure 1.12). A dataset is like a folder that will contain your future data tables.

Figure 1.12 – Dataset creation

Name your dataset, choose US in Multi-region where your data will live, and keep everything else as it is, then click on CREATE DATASET (Figure 1.13).

Figure 1.13 – Dataset configurations

In this book, to avoid searching for data, we will work with BigQuery public datasets. BigQuery public datasets are datasets that are stored in BigQuery and made available to the general public through the Google Cloud Public Dataset Program. These datasets are provided by a variety of organizations, including government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses. You can load your own data into BigQuery (for example, click on three dots near your newly created dataset, click on Create table, and then Create table from). For more information on how to load your data into BigQuery, check this link: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/loading-data.To work with the public dataset, you first need to add it to your Explorer