[SciPy-user] SOM in scipy.cluster

[Corran Webster]

> On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 10:31, Eric Bruning <eric at deeplycloudy.com>  
> wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I'm considering using self-organizing maps for mining some lightning
> > data, and info.py in scipy.cluster mentions that implementation of
> > self-organizing maps is under development. I've found a few examples
> > written in python around the web, but none that are likely to be
> > efficient enough for my use.
> >
> > Is there still interest in including SOM in scipy? I'd be happy to
> > coordinate on a contribution if nothing else is under way.
>
> Sure! My colleague Corran Webster was thinking about doing some SOM
> stuff for scipy, too, so you two should talk.

Hi,

yes, I've been thinking seriously about adding some SOM algorithms to  
scipy - I used them heavily in my previous job (we used SOMs to  
classify documents for the Mayo clinic and slot machine players for  
casinos...).

I think that there is a place for a simple and fast batch SOM  
algorithm in scipy.cluster.vq, since the batch SOM can be viewed as a  
generalization of K-means.

For more general variations of the SOM algorithm, it may make sense to  
put them elsewhere - possibly in the machine learning scikit where the  
algorithms can access other.

I'd be interested to hear what your needs are as far as data types,  
distance functions, data set sizes and SOM topologies, as that would  
likely influence on where I concentrate my energy.

Best Regards,
Corran