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Using SOM as a clustering Operator

siamak_want

Hi all,

Nowadays, I have found SOM network (Self-Organizing Map) very efficient for text clustering (according to several valid publications), So I'm about to use it for document clustering with RM. but suddenly I found a strange fact:
"SOM operator has been considered as a visualization operator in RM, not as a clustering operator"
Now, wthe question is that: Can I utilize the current visualization SOM algorithm for developing my own clustering SOM operartor? (I have bought the mannual and so I am familiar with extending rapidminer 5.0)

Anay idea would be greatly appreciated.

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MariusHelf

Of course you could do that, but did you see that there is a Self-Organizing Map operator? Maybe it does exactly what you are planning to implement.

Best, Marius

siamak_want

Hi Marius,
Thanks to your straightforward guide, but the Self-Organizing Map (which you have addressed) does not deliver a cluster model. any idea about this?

thanks

MariusHelf

You can either apply a clustering algorithm on the SOMified data, or you could set the dimensionality of the SOM to 1 and the net size to the desired number of clusters. The SOM operator outputs a preprocessing model, which you can then apply on new data. See the attached process for an easy example.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<process version="5.2.003">
  <context>
    <input/>
    <output/>
    <macros/>
  </context>
  <operator activated="true" class="process" compatibility="5.2.003" expanded="true" name="Process">
    <process expanded="true" height="500" width="950">
      <operator activated="true" class="generate_data" compatibility="5.2.003" expanded="true" height="60" name="Generate Data" width="90" x="246" y="75"/>
      <operator activated="true" class="self_organizing_map" compatibility="5.2.003" expanded="true" height="94" name="SOM" width="90" x="447" y="75">
        <parameter key="number_of_dimensions" value="1"/>
      </operator>
      <operator activated="true" class="generate_data" compatibility="5.2.003" expanded="true" height="60" name="Generate Data (2)" width="90" x="447" y="210"/>
      <operator activated="true" class="apply_model" compatibility="5.2.003" expanded="true" height="76" name="Apply Model" width="90" x="648" y="120">
        <list key="application_parameters"/>
      </operator>
      <connect from_op="Generate Data" from_port="output" to_op="SOM" to_port="example set input"/>
      <connect from_op="SOM" from_port="example set output" to_port="result 1"/>
      <connect from_op="SOM" from_port="preprocessing model" to_op="Apply Model" to_port="model"/>
      <connect from_op="Generate Data (2)" from_port="output" to_op="Apply Model" to_port="unlabelled data"/>
      <connect from_op="Apply Model" from_port="labelled data" to_port="result 2"/>
      <portSpacing port="source_input 1" spacing="0"/>
      <portSpacing port="sink_result 1" spacing="0"/>
      <portSpacing port="sink_result 2" spacing="0"/>
      <portSpacing port="sink_result 3" spacing="0"/>
    </process>
  </operator>
</process>

siamak_want

Thanks to your fantastic and also tricky method, Marius.
I think you solved the problem. Now I can use the "preprocessing model", exactly as a "cluster model".

thanks again to Marius.

MariusHelf

Yeah, sometimes RapidMiner is not just about data mining, but also about creativity