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Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

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Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#81

Post by qooleot »

Nagyman wrote: post #76
wyck wrote: post #37

They are solving a problem that doesn't really exist, the challenge is not the last step of a data report, it's the steps involved in the beginning, getting good data in, formatting, joining multiple sources, automation, dealing with junk data, procedures,etc. I don't understand the example, what's the difference between typing "Show me a line graph" and clicking a button in excel that does the same thing.

Did you try it? Yes, getting good data is a challenge but that's not one they can solve in Sheets. Making a graph is also not always one button, unless you have very simple data. I found it immediately useful. They've solved some UX and discovery issues around creating charts. And it's not _just_ charts... they're answering questions and identifying trends within the data. e.g. I threw some pretty basic data at this…

Tableau did some research in this area, and found NLP queries were much faster:

https://pasteboard.co/dPeoSHM1s.png

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#82

Post by dagss »

vgt wrote: post #66

Mandatory shameless plug - Google Sheets integrates with Google BigQuery. You can: - Query data in Google Sheets from BigQuery - Create virtual views in BigQuery that are powered by Google Sheets - One-click export data from BigQuery to Google Sheets ( - Using AppScript, build dashboards and reports in Sheets that query BigQuery for results. (work at G)

I tried to rely on your first bullet point and randomly end up with BigQuery surpassing some API treshold towards Drive (paying customer). Have to carefully manage doing copy-queries over to BQ, which is a pain, but better than nothing I guess.

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#83

Post by vgt »

dagss wrote: post #82
vgt wrote: post #66

Mandatory shameless plug - Google Sheets integrates with Google BigQuery. You can: - Query data in Google Sheets from BigQuery - Create virtual views in BigQuery that are powered by Google Sheets - One-click export data from BigQuery to Google Sheets ( - Using AppScript, build dashboards and reports in Sheets that query BigQuery for results. (work at G)

I tried to rely on your first bullet point and randomly end up with BigQuery surpassing some API treshold towards Drive (paying customer). Have to carefully manage doing copy-queries over to BQ, which is a pain, but better than nothing I guess.

Thanks for the feedback! I'd love to get more detail on your experiences so that we can iterate and improve and would be eternally thankful if you emailed me.

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#84

Post by temp246810 »

tryitnow wrote: post #45
mbesto wrote: post #28

When I worked for SAP back in 2007 (I was a fresh grad at the time), I was working in the business intelligence (reporting, analytics, and data warehousing) group and noticed how cumbersome it was for organizations to simply create and view reports (we're talking millions of dollars). I once said to my boss "you realize that in the future we'll simply just write 'show me a line graph for sales in the northeast'". And…

I'm currently evaluating BI vendors for my company and just about every major contender has this functionality or is developing it. Read the Gartner report from 2017 and they basically just come out and say that this will be the new standard in BI. The much harder problem is data management and preparation. Anyone with half a brain and a decent visualization tool can create basic graphs - but that doesn't mean they s…

Just out of curiousity, which one did you go with?

We're in the middle of doing this ourselves and would like to hear a random HNers thoughts on the subject.

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#86

Post by peatmoss »

simo7 wrote: post #74
mbesto wrote: post #28

When I worked for SAP back in 2007 (I was a fresh grad at the time), I was working in the business intelligence (reporting, analytics, and data warehousing) group and noticed how cumbersome it was for organizations to simply create and view reports (we're talking millions of dollars). I once said to my boss "you realize that in the future we'll simply just write 'show me a line graph for sales in the northeast'". And…

I doubt it. NLP interfaces in reporting work for simple things, when you want to start doing more advanced things they become incredibly verbose and inconsistent. That's where a well designed UI really shines...and will continue to do so.

And I'd argue that a well-designed UI only goes so far, and that eventually you need the expressiveness of some sort of programming language. This suggests a hierarchy of user interfaces for complex tasks:

structured language > purpose-specific UI > natural language (processing)

Old adventure games were really illuminating with respect to limitations of natural language interfaces. Rather than allowing for the expressiveness of natural language, you simply had the feeling of groping around like a blind child at an easter egg hunt for the few valid operations that existed.

I feel like this using GUI tools for data tasks. It's like being forced to communicate by banging rocks together compared to, say, the expressive power of R or Python.

I wonder if natural language interfaces could leapfrog GUIs if we all up and learned something like Lojban...

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#87

Post by krick »

romanovcode wrote: post #26
mariogintili wrote: post #5

how many corporate secretes will be leaked into this?

Leaked into what? If you are using Google Spreadsheets your "secrets" are already on Google servers and are "leaked" long time ago.

While technically true, this is the first time I'm actually thinking "maybe I'll start using Sheets". I hate Google and giving my data away, but lately I often feel that I'm missing pleasure of easy use by avoiding all these hateful botnets. So, eh, maybe I just die before it gets actually massively harmful, and then fuck it.

We need open source implementations for stuff like that.

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#88

Post by blazespin »

hacker_9 wrote: post #54
mbesto wrote: post #28

When I worked for SAP back in 2007 (I was a fresh grad at the time), I was working in the business intelligence (reporting, analytics, and data warehousing) group and noticed how cumbersome it was for organizations to simply create and view reports (we're talking millions of dollars). I once said to my boss "you realize that in the future we'll simply just write 'show me a line graph for sales in the northeast'". And…

Watching the gif on that page, it actually seems slower to use. Instead of just drag selecting the table, I have to write out all the header text now by hand.

Yeah, this. It's cool but you probably have to match some grammar and really it's just a long text format for some keyboard shortcuts a pro could do.

That being said, it's a start. SQL as natural language.

Re: Visualize data instantly with machine learning in Google Sheets

#90

Post by gefh »

ozataman wrote: post #57
tryitnow wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently evaluating BI vendors for my company and just about every major contender has this functionality or is developing it. Read the Gartner report from 2017 and they basically just come out and say that this will be the new standard in BI. The much harder problem is data management and preparation. Anyone with half a brain and a decent visualization tool can create basic graphs - but that doesn't mean they s…

And data management / preparation is where major mistakes are made - get a join wrong and you may easily be missing data or double counting something just obscure enough to go unnoticed like "ancillary sales". There is something potentially harmful, or perhaps that needs addressing, about end-user tools growing in expressive power. A good friend who does statistical genetics work once told me "but I don't want every…

That ship sailed somewhere around Excel 95...
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