Create your first collection and register a dataset

Once you know how to find data, it's time to build your own workspace. A collection is basically a folder for one analysis project. A common rule of thumb is "one analysis project = one collection."

Create a collection

1. Select Collections in the left navigation.
2. Click + Create in the upper-right of the Collections page.
3. For Name, enter a system name that starts with a lowercase letter and uses only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores (_), such as people_count_analysis.
4. For Alias, enter a readable display name, such as Regional foot traffic analysis.
5. Add a one- or two-line description and tags if they are useful.

After you click Create, the collection appears in the left tree right away. No refresh needed.

Register your first dataset

Use regional_daily_people_count_2025.csv, downloaded from the prerequisites on the Path index. If you do not have it yet, download the date range selector practice CSV.

Do not use Quick add… for this exercise. Its inferred string type may prevent region from appearing in the dashboard X-axis list. Instead, click Add item → Dataset → Table, set the name to regional_daily_people_count_2025 and the alias to Regional daily foot traffic, then define the schema before uploading the file.

Select Create to return to the collection's item list. Open the new regional_daily_people_count_2025 dataset, select its Data tab, and then select Upload file. Choose regional_daily_people_count_2025.csv; in Review file upload, confirm that the file schema matches the dataset schema and then select Upload.

Once the upload finishes, confirm that the Data tab contains 2,920 rows covering 365 dates from January 1 through December 31, 2025 and eight regions. Confirm that date and region are Text fields and people_count is Bigint. The ISO YYYY-MM-DD values in date can still be selected as the date-filter column because their text order matches chronological order. The season, day_type, and event fields help explain changes between selected periods.

A one-line metadata pass

A dataset's metadata helps other people understand and trust the resource.

• Description — One line. "What data, at what point in time, at what granularity."
• Tags — Use domain, team, and cadence to classify the dataset.

Self-check

• Does the new collection appear in the left tree without a refresh?
• Is the uploaded CSV registered as a dataset, with the preview table rendering properly?
• Are all six columns and 2,920 rows present, with date recognized as a date field?

Next lesson

Now you'll put your first dashboard widget on top of this dataset.