Amazon QuickSight is excited to announce the launch of FLOAT data type support for SPICE datasets. Before we enable FLOAT data type, SPICE only supports FIXED decimal data type. FIXED decimal data type provides the benefit of exact mathematical operations, but since it only supports four decimal places, and rounding while ingesting data and performing calculations, it causes accuracy and overflow problems. The new FLOAT, i.e. floating-point numeric data type, provides approximately 16 significant digits of accuracy. These significant digits can be on either side of the decimal point, thus allowing numbers with more accuracy as well as larger range. If users are working with very small numbers (close to zero), they can use approximately 15 digits to the right of the decimal point. This helps avoid the problem of truncation and is consistent with other products’ results. Additionally, with a maximum value of approximately 1.8 * 10308, the possibility of an overflow error is effectively minimized. SPICE has added this data type without sacrificing performance, so customers can continue to experience the same super-fast performance they’ve come to expect. For further details, visit here.

The new FLOAT data type is now available in Amazon QuickSight Standard and Enterprise Editions in all QuickSight regions - US East (N. Virginia and Ohio), US West (Oregon), Canada, Sao Paulo, Europe (Frankfurt, Ireland and London), Asia Pacific (Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo), and the AWS GovCloud (US-West) Region.