Importing geographical data enables the mapping of geographical IDs to custom regions, allowing you to report on and analyze your Analytics data in ways that are better aligned with your business' organization.
In this article:How Geographical Data import works
Analytics provides a number of geographical dimensions, such as City, Country, Continent, etc. The values for these dimensions are automatically derived from the IP address of the hit, which is convenient but also has a few drawbacks:
- IP-based locations are approximate.
- Values for standard geographic dimensions are localized into the user's preferred language, possibly making it complicated to share the data with users who speak other languages or use other tools.
- Many businesses operate in arbitrary regions that make sense to them but that don't appear on a map. For example in North America, you might operate in East, Central, and West groups of states or provinces. In Europe, companies might operate across North, Central, and South groups of countries.
As an alternative to IP-based regions, you can create your own custom regions by mapping them to a set of geographical ID dimensions. These dimensions are based on widely used standards, so sharing the data with other users and applications is simpler. The table below lists the available geographical IDs and the standards upon which they are based.
| Dimension Name | ID Standard |
|---|---|
| City ID | Geographical Criteria ID |
| Country ISO Code | ISO-3166-1 alpha-2 |
| Region ID | Geographical Criteria ID |
| Sub Continent Code | UN M.49 |
Data Set details
The Data Set is the container that will hold your imported data. Expand the section below to see the Data Set details.
Data Set detailsLegend:
- Scope—the scope determines which hits will be associated with the import dimension values. There are four levels of scope: hit, session, user and product. Learn more about scope.
- Schema Key—lists the key dimensions or metrics. The key is used to join the data you upload with the existing data in your hits for this Data Set type.
- Imported Data—lists the dimensions and metrics available for the data you upload to Google Analytics.
| Scope | Session |
|---|---|
| Modes | Processing Time, Query Time |
| Schema Key | Any ONE of the following dimensions is required:
|
| Imported Data |
Custom dimension (session scope) |
| Notes |
