Altair Tutorial Intro - PyCon 2018

The intro slides to my tutorial on Altair and Vega-Lite from PyCon 2018.

Full materials and video link available at https://github.com/altair-viz/altair-tutorial

Transcript

1. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Jake VanderPlas @jakevdp PyCon 2018 Exploratory Data Visualization with Altair Materials at http://github.com/altair-viz/altair-tutorial
2. Building Blocks of Visualization: 1. Data 2. Transformation 3. Marks 4. Encoding – mapping from fields to mark properties 5. Scale – functions that map data to visual scales 6. Guides – visualization of scales (axes, legends, etc.)
3. Key: Visualization concepts should map directly to visualization implementation.
4. Hypothesis: good implementation can influence good conceptualization.
5. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas http://matplotlib.org/ ~ familiar tools ~
6. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np x = np.random.randn(1000) y = np.random.randn(1000) color = np.arange(1000) plt.scatter(x, y, c=color) plt.colorbar() Plotting with Matplotlib
7. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Plotting with Matplotlib Strengths: - Designed like MatLab: switching was easy For more on the historical perspective, see https://speakerdeck.com/jakevdp/pydata-101
8. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Plotting with Matplotlib Strengths: - Designed like MatLab: switching was easy - Many rendering backends
9. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Plotting with Matplotlib Strengths: - Designed like MatLab: switching was easy - Many rendering backends - Can reproduce just about any plot (with a bit of effort)
10. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Plotting with Matplotlib Strengths: - Designed like MatLab: switching was easy - Many rendering backends - Can reproduce just about any plot (with a bit of effort) - Well-tested, standard tool for 15 years
11. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Matplotlib Gallery
12. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Plotting with Matplotlib Strengths: - Designed like MatLab: switching was easy - Many rendering backends - Can reproduce just about any plot with a bit of effort - Well-tested, standard tool for 15 years Weaknesses: - API is imperative & often overly verbose - Poor/no support for interactive/web graphs
13. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np x = np.random.randn(1000) y = np.random.randn(1000) color = np.arange(1000) plt.scatter(x, y, c=color) plt.colorbar() Plotting with Matplotlib
14. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas from vega_datsets import data iris = data('iris') iris.head() Data in column-oriented format; i.e. rows are samples, columns are features Statistical Visualization
15. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas color_map = dict(zip(iris.species.unique(), ['blue', 'green', 'red'])) for species, group in iris.groupby('species'): plt.scatter(group['petalLength'], group['sepalWidth'], color=color_map[species], alpha=0.3, edgecolor=None, label=species) plt.legend(frameon=True, title='species') plt.xlabel('petalLength') plt.ylabel('sepalLength') Statistical Visualization: Grouping
16. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas color_map = dict(zip(iris.species.unique(), ['blue', 'green', 'red'])) for species, group in iris.groupby('species'): plt.scatter(group['petalLength'], group['sepalWidth'], color=color_map[species], alpha=0.3, edgecolor=None, label=species) plt.legend(frameon=True, title='species') plt.xlabel('petalLength') plt.ylabel('sepalLength') Statistical Visualization: Grouping 1. Data? 2. Transformation? 3. Marks? 4. Encoding? 5. Scale? 6. Guides?
17. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas color_map = dict(zip(iris.species.unique(),['blue', 'green', 'red'])) n_panels = len(color_map) fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, n_panels, figsize=(n_panels * 5, 3), sharex =True, sharey=True) for i, (species, group) in enumerate(iris.groupby('species')): ax[i].scatter(group['petalLength'], group['sepalWidth'], color =color_map[species], alpha =0.3, edgecolor=None, label =species) ax[i].legend(frameon=True, title='species') plt.xlabel('petalLength') plt.ylabel('sepalLength') Statistical Visualization: Faceting
18. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas color_map = dict(zip(iris.species.unique(),['blue', 'green', 'red'])) n_panels = len(color_map) fig, ax = plt.subplots(1, n_panels, figsize=(n_panels * 5, 3), sharex =True, sharey=True) for i, (species, group) in enumerate(iris.groupby('species')): ax[i].scatter(group['petalLength'], group['sepalWidth'], color =color_map[species], alpha =0.3, edgecolor=None, label =species) ax[i].legend(frameon=True, title='species') plt.xlabel('petalLength') plt.ylabel('sepalLength') Statistical Visualization: Faceting Problem: We’re mixing the what with the how
19. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Toward a well-motivated Declarative Visualization Declarative - Specify What should be done. - Separates Specification from Execution - “Map <x> to a position, and <y> to a color” Imperative - Specify How something should be done. - Specification & Execution intertwined. - “Put a red circle here and a blue circle here” Declarative visualization lets you think about data and relationships, rather than incidental details.
20. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Toward a well-motivated Declarative Visualization Declarative - Specify What should be done. - Separates Specification from Execution - “Map <x> to a position, and <y> to a color” Imperative - Specify How something should be done. - Specification & Execution intertwined. - “Put a red circle here and a blue circle here” Declarative visualization lets you think about data and relationships, rather than incidental details.
21. Altair Declarative Visualization in Python http://altair-viz.github.io Based on the Vega and Vega-Lite grammars.
22. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Altair for Statistical Visualization import altair as alt from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength', y='sepalWidth', color='species' )
23. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Encodings are Flexible: import altair as alt from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength', y='sepalWidth', color='species', column='species' )
24. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Altair is Interactive import altair as alt from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength', y='sepalWidth', color='species' ).interactive()
25. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas And so much more . . .
26. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas See the rest of the tutorial content at http://github.com/altair-viz/altair-tutorial
27. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas
28. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Extra Content
29. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Basics of an Altair Chart import altair as alt from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N' )
30. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas import altair as Chart from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_circle().encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N' ) Anatomy of an Altair Chart iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris) Chart assumes tabular, column-oriented data Supports pandas dataframes, or CSV/TSV/JSON URLs
31. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas import altair as Chart from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N' ) Anatomy of an Altair Chart mark_point() Chart uses one of several pre-defined marks: - point - line - bar - area - rect - geoshape - text - circle - square - rule - tick
32. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas import altair as Chart from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N' ) Basics of an Altair Chart - Encodings map visual channels to data columns, - Channels are automatically adjusted based on data type (N, O, Q, T) Available channels: - Position (x, y) - Facet (row, column) - color - shape - size - text - opacity - stroke - fill - latitude/longitude encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N'
33. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Anatomy of an Altair Chart { "data": {"values": [...]}, "encoding": { "color": {"field": "species", "type": "nominal"}, "x": {"field": "petalLength", "type": "quantitative"}, "y": {"field": "sepalWidth", "type": "quantitative"} }, "mark": "point" } import altair as alt from vega_datasets import data iris = data.iris() alt.Chart(iris).mark_point().encode( x='petalLength:Q', y='sepalWidth:Q', color='species:N' ).to_json() Altair produces specifications following the Vega-Lite grammar. http://vega.github.io/vega-lite/
34. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
35. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
36. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
37. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
38. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
39. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
40. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas Examples:
41. Jake VanderPlas (Visualizations from jakevdp/altair-examples).
42. Jake VanderPlas Altair 2.0: a Grammar of Interaction
43. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas
44. @jakevdp Jake VanderPlas ~ From D3 to Vega to Altair ~
45. Jake VanderPlas So what is Vega-Lite?
46. Jake VanderPlas D3 is Everywhere . . . (live version at NYT)
47. Jake VanderPlas But working in D3 can be challenging . . .
48. Jake VanderPlas Bar Chart: d3 var margin = {top: 20, right: 20, bottom: 30, left: 40}, width = 960 - margin.left - margin.right, height = 500 - margin.top - margin.bottom; var x = d3.scale.ordinal() .rangeRoundBands([0, width], .1); var y = d3.scale.linear() .range([height, 0]); var xAxis = d3.svg.axis() .scale(x) .orient("bottom"); var yAxis = d3.svg.axis() .scale(y) .orient("left") .ticks(10, "%"); var svg = d3.select("body").append("svg") .attr("width", width + margin.left + margin.right) .attr("height", height + margin.top + margin.bottom) .append("g") .attr("transform", "translate(" + margin.left + "," + margin.top + ")"); d3.tsv("data.tsv", type, function(error, data) { if (error) throw error; x.domain(data.map(function(d) { return d.letter; })); y.domain([0, d3.max(data, function(d) { return d.frequency; })]); svg.append("g") .attr("class", "x axis") .attr("transform", "translate(0," + height + ")") .call(xAxis); svg.append("g") .attr("class", "y axis") .call(yAxis) .append("text") .attr("transform", "rotate(-90)") .attr("y", 6) .attr("dy", ".71em") .style("text-anchor", "end") .text("Frequency"); svg.selectAll(".bar") .data(data) .enter().append("rect") .attr("class", "bar") .attr("x", function(d) { return x(d.letter); }) .attr("width", x.rangeBand()) .attr("y", function(d) { return y(d.frequency); }) .attr("height", function(d) { return height - y(d.frequency); }); }); function type(d) { d.frequency = +d.frequency; return d; } D3 is a Javascript package that streamlines manipulation of objects on a webpage.
49. Jake VanderPlas Bar Chart: Vega { "width": 400, "height": 200, "padding": {"top": 10, "left": 30, "bottom": 30, "right": 10}, "data": [ { "name": "table", "values": [ {"x": 1, "y": 28}, {"x": 2, "y": 55}, {"x": 3, "y": 43}, {"x": 4, "y": 91}, {"x": 5, "y": 81}, {"x": 6, "y": 53}, {"x": 7, "y": 19}, {"x": 8, "y": 87}, {"x": 9, "y": 52}, {"x": 10, "y": 48}, {"x": 11, "y": 24}, {"x": 12, "y": 49}, {"x": 13, "y": 87}, {"x": 14, "y": 66}, {"x": 15, "y": 17}, {"x": 16, "y": 27}, {"x": 17, "y": 68}, {"x": 18, "y": 16}, {"x": 19, "y": 49}, {"x": 20, "y": 15} ] } ], "scales": [ { "name": "x", "type": "ordinal", "range": "width", "domain": {"data": "table", "field": "x"} }, { "name": "y", "type": "linear", "range": "height", "domain": {"data": "table", "field": "y"}, "nice": true } ], "axes": [ {"type": "x", "scale": "x"}, {"type": "y", "scale": "y"} ], "marks": [ { "type": "rect", "from": {"data": "table"}, "properties": { "enter": { "x": {"scale": "x", "field": "x"}, "width": {"scale": "x", "band": true, "offset": -1}, "y": {"scale": "y", "field": "y"}, "y2": {"scale": "y", "value": 0} }, "update": { "fill": {"value": "steelblue"} Vega is a detailed declarative specification for visualizations, built on D3.
50. Jake VanderPlas Bar Chart: Vega-Lite { "description": "A simple bar chart with embedded data.", "data": { "values": [ {"a": "A","b": 28}, {"a": "B","b": 55}, {"a": "C","b": 43}, {"a": "D","b": 91}, {"a": "E","b": 81}, {"a": "F","b": 53}, {"a": "G","b": 19}, {"a": "H","b": 87}, {"a": "I","b": 52} ] }, "mark": "bar", "encoding": { "x": {"field": "a", "type": "ordinal"}, "y": {"field": "b", "type": "quantitative"} } } Vega-Lite is a simpler declarative specification aimed at statistical visualization.
51. Jake VanderPlas Bar Chart: Altair Altair is a Python API for creating Vega-Lite specifications.
52. Jake VanderPlas
53. Jake VanderPlas ~ Thinking about Visualization ~
54. Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967)
55. 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967)
56. Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967)
57. Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967)
58. Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Order & Quantity
59. Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Order & Quantity (less so)
60. Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Order... Quantity?
61. Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Order, Quantity
62. Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Order, Quantity
63. Suitable for ordered data (also length, area, volume, etc.) Suitable for unordered data (Also transparancy, blur/focus, etc.) 2D Position Size Color Value Texture Color Hue Angle Shape Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics (1967) Bertin’s “Levels of Organization” Position N O Q Size N O Q Color Value N O Q Texture N O Color Hue N Angle N Shape N N = Nominal (named category) O = Ordinal (ordered category) Q = Quantitative (ordered continuous)
64. Key: Visualization concepts should map directly to visualization implementation. Great resource is Jeff Heer’s viz course: https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse512/16sp/