Spatial Analysis
Spatial questions test the geometry model. Alteryx uses spatial objects stored in a Spatial field; points, lines, and polygons can be created from lat/long with Create Points (or Formula ST_CreatePoint). Spatial Match joins based on spatial relationship (intersects, contains, within, touches) and has options for how to handle multiple matches. Spatial Info reports area, length, and centroid; Trade Area builds drive-time or radius polygons; Buffer expands geometry by a distance (with units). Spatial Process performs union, intersection, difference, and combination. Distance computes between points. Find Nearest ranks nearest spatial objects within a limit.
Traps: coordinate systems - mixing lat/long (WGS84) with projected coordinates produces wildly wrong distances; buffer units must match the spatial reference; Spatial Match can produce a cartesian explosion when many polygons overlap a point, so set the match option deliberately. Trade Area drive-time needs a configured dataset and can be slow. Poly-Split is required to break multipart polygons before some operations.
Worked example: you have store points and customer points and need each customer's nearest store within 10 miles. Use Find Nearest with the maximum distance set to 10 (in the correct unit) rather than a Buffer + Spatial Match, which would return every store within the radius. Rule of thumb: Verify the spatial reference before trusting any distance or area.