Create a k-means model to cluster London bicycle hires dataset

---

This tutorial teaches you how to use a k-means model in BigQuery ML to identify clusters in a set of data.

The k-means algorithm that groups your data into clusters is a form of unsupervised machine learning. Unlike supervised machine learning, which is about predictive analytics, unsupervised machine learning is about descriptive analytics. Unsupervised machine learning can help you understand your data so that you can make data-driven decisions.

The queries in this tutorial use geography functions available in geospatial analytics. For more information, see Introduction to geospatial analytics.

This tutorial uses the London Bicycle Hires public dataset. The data includes start and stop timestamps, station names, and ride duration.

Objectives

This tutorial guides you through completing the following tasks:

• Examine the data used to train the model.
• Create a k-means clustering model.
• Interpret the data clusters produced, using BigQuery ML's visualization of the clusters.
• Run the ML.PREDICT function on the k-means model to predict the likely cluster for a set of bike hire stations.

Costs

This tutorial uses billable components of Google Cloud, including the following:

• BigQuery
• BigQuery ML

For information on BigQuery costs, see the BigQuery pricing page.

For information on BigQuery ML costs, see BigQuery ML pricing.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

4. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

5. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

6. BigQuery is automatically enabled in new projects. To activate BigQuery in a pre-existing project, go to

   Enable the BigQuery API.

   Enable the API

Required Permissions

• To create the dataset, you need the bigquery.datasets.create IAM permission.

• To create the connection resource, you need the following permissions:

  • bigquery.connections.create
  • bigquery.connections.get

• To create the model, you need the following permissions:

  • bigquery.jobs.create
  • bigquery.models.create
  • bigquery.models.getData
  • bigquery.models.updateData
  • bigquery.connections.delegate

• To run inference, you need the following permissions:

  • bigquery.models.getData
  • bigquery.jobs.create

For more information about IAM roles and permissions in BigQuery, see Introduction to IAM.

Create a dataset

Create a BigQuery dataset to store your k-means model:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

   Go to the BigQuery page

2. In the Explorer pane, click your project name.

3. Click View actions > Create dataset.

   

4. On the Create dataset page, do the following:

   • For Dataset ID, enter bqml_tutorial.

   • For Location type, select Multi-region, and then select EU (multiple regions in European Union).

     The London Bicycle Hires public dataset is stored in the EU multi-region. Your dataset must be in the same location.

   • Leave the remaining default settings as they are, and click Create dataset.

     

Examine the training data

Examine the data you will use to train your k-means model. In this tutorial, you cluster bike stations based on the following attributes:

• Duration of rentals
• Number of trips per day
• Distance from city center

SQL

This query extracts data on cycle hires, including the start_station_name and duration columns, and joins this data with station information. This includes creating a calculated column that contains the station distance from the city center. Then, it computes attributes of the station in a stationstats column, including the average duration of rides and the number of trips, and the calculated distance_from_city_center column.

Follow these steps to examine the training data:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

   Go to BigQuery

2. In the query editor, paste in the following query and click Run:

   WITH
   hs AS (
     SELECT
       h.start_station_name AS station_name,
       IF(
         EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 1
           OR EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 7,
         'weekend',
         'weekday') AS isweekday,
       h.duration,
       ST_DISTANCE(ST_GEOGPOINT(s.longitude, s.latitude), ST_GEOGPOINT(-0.1, 51.5)) / 1000
         AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_hire` AS h
     JOIN
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_stations` AS s
       ON
         h.start_station_id = s.id
     WHERE
       h.start_date
       BETWEEN CAST('2015-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
       AND CAST('2016-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
   ),
   stationstats AS (
     SELECT
       station_name,
       isweekday,
       AVG(duration) AS duration,
       COUNT(duration) AS num_trips,
       MAX(distance_from_city_center) AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       hs
     GROUP BY
       station_name, isweekday
   )
   SELECT *
   FROM
   stationstats
   ORDER BY
   distance_from_city_center ASC;

The results should look similar to the following:

BigQuery DataFrames

Before trying this sample, follow the BigQuery DataFrames setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using BigQuery DataFrames. For more information, see the BigQuery DataFrames reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up ADC for a local development environment.

import datetime

import pandas as pd

import bigframes
import bigframes.pandas as bpd

bigframes.options.bigquery.project = your_gcp_project_id
# Compute in the EU multi-region to query the London bicycles dataset.
bigframes.options.bigquery.location = "EU"

# Extract the information you'll need to train the k-means model in this
# tutorial. Use the read_gbq function to represent cycle hires
# data as a DataFrame.
h = bpd.read_gbq(
    "bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_hire",
    col_order=["start_station_name", "start_station_id", "start_date", "duration"],
).rename(
    columns={
        "start_station_name": "station_name",
        "start_station_id": "station_id",
    }
)

s = bpd.read_gbq(
    # Use ST_GEOPOINT and ST_DISTANCE to analyze geographical
    # data. These functions determine spatial relationships between
    # geographical features.
    """
    SELECT
    id,
    ST_DISTANCE(
        ST_GEOGPOINT(s.longitude, s.latitude),
        ST_GEOGPOINT(-0.1, 51.5)
    ) / 1000 AS distance_from_city_center
    FROM
    `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_stations` s
    """
)

# Define Python datetime objects in the UTC timezone for range comparison,
# because BigQuery stores timestamp data in the UTC timezone.
sample_time = datetime.datetime(2015, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)
sample_time2 = datetime.datetime(2016, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc)

h = h.loc[(h["start_date"] >= sample_time) & (h["start_date"] <= sample_time2)]

# Replace each day-of-the-week number with the corresponding "weekday" or
# "weekend" label by using the Series.map method.
h = h.assign(
    isweekday=h.start_date.dt.dayofweek.map(
        {
            0: "weekday",
            1: "weekday",
            2: "weekday",
            3: "weekday",
            4: "weekday",
            5: "weekend",
            6: "weekend",
        }
    )
)

# Supplement each trip in "h" with the station distance information from
# "s" by merging the two DataFrames by station ID.
merged_df = h.merge(
    right=s,
    how="inner",
    left_on="station_id",
    right_on="id",
)

# Engineer features to cluster the stations. For each station, find the
# average trip duration, number of trips, and distance from city center.
stationstats = merged_df.groupby(["station_name", "isweekday"]).agg(
    {"duration": ["mean", "count"], "distance_from_city_center": "max"}
)
stationstats.columns = pd.Index(
    ["duration", "num_trips", "distance_from_city_center"]
)
stationstats = stationstats.sort_values(
    by="distance_from_city_center", ascending=True
).reset_index()

# Expected output results: >>> stationstats.head(3)
# station_name	isweekday duration  num_trips	distance_from_city_center
# Borough Road...	weekday	    1110	    5749	    0.12624
# Borough Road...	weekend	    2125	    1774	    0.12624
# Webber Street...	weekday	    795	        6517	    0.164021
#   3 rows × 5 columns

Create a k-means model

Create a k-means model using London Bicycle Hires training data.

SQL

In the following query, the CREATE MODEL statement specifies the number of clusters to use — four. In the SELECT statement, the EXCEPT clause excludes the station_name column because this column doesn't contain a feature. The query creates a unique row per station_name, and only the features are mentioned in the SELECT statement.

Follow these steps to create a k-means model:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

   Go to BigQuery

2. In the query editor, paste in the following query and click Run:

   CREATE OR REPLACE MODEL `bqml_tutorial.london_station_clusters`
   OPTIONS (
     model_type = 'kmeans',
     num_clusters = 4)
   AS
   WITH
   hs AS (
     SELECT
       h.start_station_name AS station_name,
       IF(
         EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 1
           OR EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 7,
         'weekend',
         'weekday') AS isweekday,
       h.duration,
       ST_DISTANCE(ST_GEOGPOINT(s.longitude, s.latitude), ST_GEOGPOINT(-0.1, 51.5)) / 1000
         AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_hire` AS h
     JOIN
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_stations` AS s
       ON
         h.start_station_id = s.id
     WHERE
       h.start_date
       BETWEEN CAST('2015-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
       AND CAST('2016-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
   ),
   stationstats AS (
     SELECT
       station_name,
       isweekday,
       AVG(duration) AS duration,
       COUNT(duration) AS num_trips,
       MAX(distance_from_city_center) AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       hs
     GROUP BY
       station_name, isweekday
   )
   SELECT *
   EXCEPT (station_name, isweekday)
   FROM
   stationstats;

BigQuery DataFrames

Before trying this sample, follow the BigQuery DataFrames setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using BigQuery DataFrames. For more information, see the BigQuery DataFrames reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up ADC for a local development environment.

from bigframes.ml.cluster import KMeans

# To determine an optimal number of clusters, construct and fit several
# K-Means objects with different values of num_clusters, find the error
# measure, and pick the point at which the error measure is at its minimum
# value.
cluster_model = KMeans(n_clusters=4)
cluster_model.fit(stationstats)
cluster_model.to_gbq(
    your_model_id,  # For example: "bqml_tutorial.london_station_clusters"
    replace=True,
)

Interpret the data clusters

The information in the models's Evaluation tab can help you to interpret the clusters produced by the model.

Follow these steps to view the model's evaluation information:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

   Go to BigQuery

2. In the Explorer pane, expand your project, expand the bqml_tutorial dataset, and then expand the Models folder.

3. Select the london_station_clusters model.

4. Select the Evaluation tab. This tab displays visualizations of the clusters identified by the k-means model. In the Numeric features section, bar graphs display the most important numeric feature values for each centroid. Each centroid represents a given cluster of data. You can select which features to visualize from the drop-down menu.

   

   This model creates the following centroids:

   • Centroid 1 shows a less busy city station, with shorter duration rentals.
   • Centroid 2 shows the second city station which is less busy and used for longer duration rentals.
   • Centroid 3 shows a busy city station that is close to the city center.
   • Centroid 4 shows a suburban station with trips that are longer.

   If you were running the bicycle hire business, you could use this information to inform business decisions. For example:

   • Assume that you need to experiment with a new type of lock. Which cluster of stations should you choose as a subject for this experiment? The stations in centroid 1, centroid 2 or centroid 4 seem like logical choices because they are not the busiest stations.

   • Assume that you want to stock some stations with racing bikes. Which stations should you choose? Centroid 4 is the group of stations that are far from the city center, and they have the longest trips. These are likely candidates for racing bikes.

Use the ML.PREDICT function to predict a station's cluster

Identify the cluster to which a particular station belongs by using the ML.PREDICT SQL function or the predict BigQuery DataFrames function.

SQL

The following query uses the REGEXP_CONTAINS function to find all entries in the station_name column that contain the string Kennington. The ML.PREDICT function uses those values to predict which clusters might contain those stations.

Follow these steps to predicts the cluster of every station that has the string Kennington in its name:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the BigQuery page.

   Go to BigQuery

2. In the query editor, paste in the following query and click Run:

   WITH
   hs AS (
     SELECT
       h.start_station_name AS station_name,
       IF(
         EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 1
           OR EXTRACT(DAYOFWEEK FROM h.start_date) = 7,
         'weekend',
         'weekday') AS isweekday,
       h.duration,
       ST_DISTANCE(ST_GEOGPOINT(s.longitude, s.latitude), ST_GEOGPOINT(-0.1, 51.5)) / 1000
         AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_hire` AS h
     JOIN
       `bigquery-public-data.london_bicycles.cycle_stations` AS s
       ON
         h.start_station_id = s.id
     WHERE
       h.start_date
       BETWEEN CAST('2015-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
       AND CAST('2016-01-01 00:00:00' AS TIMESTAMP)
   ),
   stationstats AS (
     SELECT
       station_name,
       isweekday,
       AVG(duration) AS duration,
       COUNT(duration) AS num_trips,
       MAX(distance_from_city_center) AS distance_from_city_center
     FROM
       hs
     GROUP BY
       station_name, isweekday
   )
   SELECT *
   EXCEPT (nearest_centroids_distance)
   FROM
   ML.PREDICT(
     MODEL `bqml_tutorial.london_station_clusters`,
     (
       SELECT *
       FROM
         stationstats
       WHERE
         REGEXP_CONTAINS(station_name, 'Kennington')
     ));

The results should look similar to the following.

BigQuery DataFrames

Before trying this sample, follow the BigQuery DataFrames setup instructions in the BigQuery quickstart using BigQuery DataFrames. For more information, see the BigQuery DataFrames reference documentation.

To authenticate to BigQuery, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up ADC for a local development environment.

# Select model you'll use for predictions. `read_gbq_model` loads model
# data from BigQuery, but you could also use the `cluster_model` object
# from previous steps.
cluster_model = bpd.read_gbq_model(
    your_model_id,
    # For example: "bqml_tutorial.london_station_clusters",
)

# Use 'contains' function to filter by stations containing the string
# "Kennington".
stationstats = stationstats.loc[
    stationstats["station_name"].str.contains("Kennington")
]

result = cluster_model.predict(stationstats)

# Expected output results:   >>>results.peek(3)
# CENTROID...	NEAREST...	station_name  isweekday	 duration num_trips dist...
# 	1	[{'CENTROID_ID'...	Borough...	  weekday	  1110	    5749	0.13
# 	2	[{'CENTROID_ID'...	Borough...	  weekend	  2125      1774	0.13
# 	1	[{'CENTROID_ID'...	Webber...	  weekday	  795	    6517	0.16
#   3 rows × 7 columns

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used in this tutorial, either delete the project that contains the resources, or keep the project and delete the individual resources.

• You can delete the project you created.
• Or you can keep the project and delete the dataset.

Delete your dataset

Deleting your project removes all datasets and all tables in the project. If you prefer to reuse the project, you can delete the dataset you created in this tutorial:

1. If necessary, open the BigQuery page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to the BigQuery page

2. In the navigation, click the bqml_tutorial dataset you created.

3. Click Delete dataset on the right side of the window. This action deletes the dataset and the model.

4. In the Delete dataset dialog, confirm the delete command by typing the name of your dataset (bqml_tutorial) and then click Delete.

Delete your project

To delete the project:

Caution: Deleting a project has the following effects:

• Everything in the project is deleted. If you used an existing project for the tasks in this document, when you delete it, you also delete any other work you've done in the project.
• Custom project IDs are lost. When you created this project, you might have created a custom project ID that you want to use in the future. To preserve the URLs that use the project ID, such as an appspot.com URL, delete selected resources inside the project instead of deleting the whole project.

If you plan to explore multiple architectures, tutorials, or quickstarts, reusing projects can help you avoid exceeding project quota limits.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Manage resources page.

   Go to Manage resources

2. In the project list, select the project that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
3. In the dialog, type the project ID, and then click Shut down to delete the project.

What's next

• For an overview of BigQuery ML, see Introduction to BigQuery ML.
• For information about creating models, see the CREATE MODEL syntax page.