Querying and analyzing

Once you have curated your project files and resources, you can work with them in the project workspace. To get to the workspace, click the Launch workspace button on the upper right corner of your project page.

In the workspace you can manage your project files and data sources, modify the summary or data dictionary, view or download your project files, preview select file formats in-line, and write SQL or SPARQL queries against supported data files. Once you have output, either directly from a file or the results of a query, you can also connect them to external tools like Tableau, R, or Python through an integration.

All data files are normalized so they're immediately queryable and joinable, whether they're similar formats or not. This lets you jump right into analyzing and querying to perform calculations, produce summaries, and manipulate data across many different formats and locations.

data.world supports SQL and SPARQL query languages. SPARQL is the query language for graph data, which is how all of the data is stored behind the scenes on data.world. SQL is by far the most widely known query language, so we’ll use that in these examples. Check out our SQL and SPARQL tutorials to learn more on each.

To start writing a query select New query from the menu in the left column or when viewing a particular file, click the Query link at the top of the file display:

From there you'll be taken to a new tab in the workspace with a pre-populated sample query. Clicking the Run query button on the right will return the results of your query:

The sample query serves as a good starting point for you to use to build your own SQL queries. You can modify it to return a subset of the initial data or expand on it to start joining your other datasets and tables.

To reveal a list of the tables and columns in your project, select the left arrow button to the right of the Run query button. You can use this schema browser to quickly find, copy and paste column and table names into your query to avoid typos, as well as find quick stats on each field by clicking the 'i' next to it:

When ready, name your query and save it for later use:

When you save a query you are prompted to choose who can see the query, either anyone with access to the project or only you. Saved queries show up on the lower left of the workspace window and can be duplicated, edited, or removed by clicking on the three dots to the right of their names:

All the files you open in the workspace stay open in tabs until you close them so you can easily navigate between them.

Once you have the desired results from your query, you can use the Download button to download them in a CSV or XLSX file, or use the Open in app option to connect them to one of our many integrations such as Tableau, Power BI, Google Data Studio, or your Python or R environment. You can also use the copy URL or embed code option to send a direct download link to someone (data.world login not required) or even embed the query results in a discussion or use as the URL source to power another file within your project or dataset.

Note that all files, queries, datasets, and projects are their own API endpoints, so if you don't see an integration with your desired tool, you could still work with it via our REST API. Send us a message as well, as we're always working with partners to expand data.world integrations!