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Lookeris an enterprise platform for business
intelligence, data applications, and embedded analytics. Looker helps
you explore, share, and visualize your company's data so that you can make
better business decisions.
How Looker works
Looker lets data experts at each organization describe their data using
a lightweight modeling language called LookML. LookML tells Looker
how to query data, so everyone in the organization can create easy-to-read
reports and dashboards to explore patterns of data. Looker offers
additional features for creating custom data applications and experiences.
Looker's platform works with transactional databases as well as
analytical datastores. Looker lets you create consistent data models
on top of all your data with speed and accuracy. It also offers a unified
surface to access all of an organization's data.
Looker integration with Spanner
Looker supports hosting in Google Cloud. Because Looker is
platform independent, it connects to data in Spanner as well as other
public clouds.
You don't need Looker to use Spanner. However, if your
Spanner use case includes business intelligence, data applications, or
embedded analytics, you might want to review Looker as a provider of
these services.
There are many options related to administering Looker, customizing
its data model, and exposing data to users. For more information, see the
following resources:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Using Looker with Spanner\n\n[Looker](https://looker.com/) is an enterprise platform for business\nintelligence, data applications, and embedded analytics. Looker helps\nyou explore, share, and visualize your company's data so that you can make\nbetter business decisions.\n\nHow Looker works\n----------------\n\nLooker lets data experts at each organization describe their data using\na lightweight modeling language called LookML. LookML tells Looker\nhow to query data, so everyone in the organization can create easy-to-read\nreports and dashboards to explore patterns of data. Looker offers\nadditional features for creating custom data applications and experiences.\n\nLooker's platform works with transactional databases as well as\nanalytical datastores. Looker lets you create consistent data models\non top of all your data with speed and accuracy. It also offers a unified\nsurface to access all of an organization's data.\n\nLooker integration with Spanner\n-------------------------------\n\nLooker supports hosting in Google Cloud. Because Looker is\nplatform independent, it connects to data in Spanner as well as other\npublic clouds.\n\nYou don't need Looker to use Spanner. However, if your\nSpanner use case includes business intelligence, data applications, or\nembedded analytics, you might want to review Looker as a provider of\nthese services.\n\nIf you already have a Looker instance running, see the\n[instructions for connecting Looker to Spanner](https://docs.looker.com/setup-and-management/database-config/google-spanner).\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\nThere are many options related to administering Looker, customizing\nits data model, and exposing data to users. For more information, see the\nfollowing resources:\n\n- [Looker Documentation](https://docs.looker.com)\n- [Looker Help Center](https://help.looker.com)\n- [Looker Training](https://connect.looker.com/)"]]
