Exploration Space

Overview of Exploration Space

Introduction

The Exploration Space is a data storage and management feature available only in the public cloud edition of Quick BI. You can use this feature to upload local CSV or Excel files, such as .xls and .xlsx files, to use as data sources. After you upload the files, they are stored in the Exploration Space. This lets you create datasets and dashboards for data analytics and visualization without connecting to an external database. The Exploration Space simplifies the data import process and is ideal for quick analysis of temporary data or for data exploration in small projects.

Scenarios

• Process, analyze, and visualize local CSV or Excel files using Quick BI features.

• Experiment with and explore small, localized data projects.

Example: Create an Exploration Space

1. In your workspace, follow the steps shown in the following image to add a new data source.

2. Select Local File and upload your file.

   Note

   For more information about the upload steps and requirements, see Add a file to a data source.

   

   A success message is displayed, as shown in the following figure.

   

3. Click Back to Data Source List to return to the My Data Sources page. The Exploration Space is now initialized and displayed.

Manage the Exploration Space

Exploration Space management

Exploration Space capacity

For Professional Edition and Premium Edition customers, the Exploration Space and extraction acceleration share storage capacity. The default free storage capacity is as follows:

Organization administrators can view the used storage capacity and purchase additional capacity in Organization Management > Quick Engine.

Limits and notes

The Exploration Space in the Quick BI public cloud uses a ClickHouse data source for storage. Therefore, you must use ClickHouse functions and syntax for data processing in datasets and reports. You can also use the built-in functions that Quick BI provides. For more information, see Built-in functions. To prevent dirty data, the underlying storage of the Exploration Space does not allow you to insert duplicate rows.

Exploration Space FAQ

1. How do I add an Exploration Space? Why is it missing from some workspaces?

A: You must initialize the Exploration Space by creating a new data source from a local file. To do this, go to New Data Source > Local File and upload a file. The Exploration Space then appears in the Data Source module.

2. What are the requirements for uploading files to the Exploration Space?

A: The requirements are the same as for uploading a file to a data source. For more information, see Add a file to a data source.

3. Does the Exploration Space support cross-data-source joins?

A: No, it does not. You cannot join a file data source in the Exploration Space with other database data sources.

To analyze local file data with data from another data source, you can select that data source and use the file upload feature to upload the file directly to that database.

4. Besides local files, can the Exploration Space store other types of data?

A: The Exploration Space stores extracted data from sources such as API data sources (extraction mode), DingTalk tables, DingTalk multi-dimensional tables, and Lark multi-dimensional tables. This storage space is also used for dataset extraction acceleration. However, on the data source list page, only file data sources are displayed for the Exploration Space, and other data sources are listed separately. To manage storage space, an organization administrator can go to "Organization Management - Quick Engine" to view the used capacity and perform a scale-out and upgrade.

5. After creating a dataset in the Exploration Space, can I perform data calculations and processing?

A: Yes, you can. You can use the built-in functions provided by Quick BI or ClickHouse functions to calculate and process data.