Building My First Tableau Dashboard from Smartwatch Data

This blog walks through how I built a personal fitness dashboard in Tableau Public using data collected from my Apple Watch.
The process is straightforward — from extracting raw data to creating a clean, interactive dashboard.

Step 1: Extract Data from Smartwatch

• Collected workout data from the Apple Watch and exported the data into .gpx files, which contain the GPS tracks, distance, and activity metrics.

Step 2: Prepare Data with Power Query

• Opened the exported files in Power Query (Excel/Power BI). Transformed and cleaned the workout metrics (distance, pace, time, activity type), then saved the output as an XLSX file, making it ready for Tableau.

Step 3: Transform GPS Data

• Had to convert the .gpx files into XML format for preparation. Then Loaded the XML files into Power Query and consolidated the GPS route data to create a dataset suitable for mapping.

Step 4: Create Tableau Sheets
In Tableau, I built different sheets to capture different aspects of the data:

• Workout Summary – Total workouts, distance, best pace, average time.
• Trend Analysis – Distance over time across years per activity type.
• Recent Workouts – Distances and pace for the last 5 days.
• Elevation Profile – Visualizing elevation changes per workout.
• Workout Map – Showing cities/towns where I have done some workouts.

Step 5: Build the Dashboard

• Finally, I combined all the sheets into a single interactive dashboard. Added filters for Year, Activity Type, and Location and published the dashboard to Tableau Public for sharing.

Key Takeaway
This project gave me hands-on experience with:

• Data extraction from wearables
• Data cleaning and transformation using Power Query
• Visualization in Tableau

It’s a great way to turn personal fitness data into meaningful insights while learning how to manage and visualize data across platforms.