Forecast a single time series with a univariate model

SQL

In the following GoogleSQL query, the SELECT statement parses the date column from the input table to the TIMESTAMP type and renames it to parsed_date, and uses the SUM(...) clause and the GROUP BY date clause to create a daily totals.visits value.

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:

   SELECT
   PARSE_TIMESTAMP("%Y%m%d", date) AS parsed_date,
   SUM(totals.visits) AS total_visits
   FROM
   `bigquery-public-data.google_analytics_sample.ga_sessions_*`
   GROUP BY date;

   1. When the query completes, click Explore data > Explore with Looker Studio. Looker Studio opens in a new tab. Complete the following steps in the new tab.

   2. In the Looker Studio, click Insert > Time series chart.

   3. In the Chart pane, choose the Setup tab.

   4. In the Metric section, add the total_visits field, and remove the default Record Count metric. The resulting chart looks similar to the following:

      

      Looking at the chart, you can see that the input time series has a weekly seasonal pattern.

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 bigframes.pandas as bpd

# Start by loading the historical data from BigQuerythat you want to analyze and forecast.
# This clause indicates that you are querying the ga_sessions_* tables in the google_analytics_sample dataset.
# Read and visualize the time series you want to forecast.
df = bpd.read_gbq("bigquery-public-data.google_analytics_sample.ga_sessions_*")
parsed_date = bpd.to_datetime(df.date, format="%Y%m%d", utc=True)
parsed_date.name = "parsed_date"
visits = df["totals"].struct.field("visits")
visits.name = "total_visits"
total_visits = visits.groupby(parsed_date).sum()

# Expected output: total_visits.head()
# parsed_date
# 2016-08-01 00:00:00+00:00    1711
# 2016-08-02 00:00:00+00:00    2140
# 2016-08-03 00:00:00+00:00    2890
# 2016-08-04 00:00:00+00:00    3161
# 2016-08-05 00:00:00+00:00    2702
# Name: total_visits, dtype: Int64

total_visits.plot.line()

The result is similar to the following:

SQL

In the following query, the OPTIONS(model_type='ARIMA_PLUS', time_series_timestamp_col='date', ...) clause indicates that you are creating an ARIMA-based time series model. The auto_arima option of the CREATE MODEL statement defaults to TRUE, so the auto.ARIMA algorithm automatically tunes the hyperparameters in the model. The algorithm fits dozens of candidate models and chooses the best model, which is the model with the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC). The data_frequency option of the CREATE MODEL statements defaults to AUTO_FREQUENCY, so the training process automatically infers the data frequency of the input time series. The decompose_time_series option of the CREATE MODEL statement defaults to TRUE, so that information about the time series data is returned when you evaluate the model in the next step.

Follow these steps to create the 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.ga_arima_model`
   OPTIONS
   (model_type = 'ARIMA_PLUS',
    time_series_timestamp_col = 'parsed_date',
    time_series_data_col = 'total_visits',
    auto_arima = TRUE,
    data_frequency = 'AUTO_FREQUENCY',
    decompose_time_series = TRUE
   ) AS
   SELECT
   PARSE_TIMESTAMP("%Y%m%d", date) AS parsed_date,
   SUM(totals.visits) AS total_visits
   FROM
   `bigquery-public-data.google_analytics_sample.ga_sessions_*`
   GROUP BY date;

   The query takes about 4 seconds to complete, after which the ga_arima_model model appears in the Explorer pane. Because the query uses a CREATE MODEL statement to create a model, you don't see query results.

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 import forecasting
import bigframes.pandas as bpd

# Create a time series model to forecast total site visits:
# The auto_arima option defaults to True, so the auto.ARIMA algorithm automatically
# tunes the hyperparameters in the model.
# The data_frequency option defaults to 'auto_frequency so the training
# process automatically infers the data frequency of the input time series.
# The decompose_time_series option defaults to True, so that information about
# the time series data is returned when you evaluate the model in the next step.
model = forecasting.ARIMAPlus()
model.auto_arima = True
model.data_frequency = "auto_frequency"
model.decompose_time_series = True

# Use the data loaded in the previous step to fit the model
training_data = total_visits.to_frame().reset_index(drop=False)

X = training_data[["parsed_date"]]
y = training_data[["total_visits"]]

model.fit(X, y)

SQL

Evaluate the time series models by using the ML.ARIMA_EVALUATE function. The ML.ARIMA_EVALUATE function shows you the evaluation metrics of all the candidate models evaluated during the process of automatic hyperparameter tuning.

Follow these steps to evaluate the 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:

   SELECT
   *
   FROM
   ML.ARIMA_EVALUATE(MODEL `bqml_tutorial.ga_arima_model`);

   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.

# Evaluate the time series models by using the summary() function. The summary()
# function shows you the evaluation metrics of all the candidate models evaluated
# during the process of automatic hyperparameter tuning.
summary = model.summary(
    show_all_candidate_models=True,
)
print(summary.peek())

# Expected output:
# row   non_seasonal_p	non_seasonal_d	non_seasonal_q	has_drift	log_likelihood	AIC	variance	seasonal_periods	has_holiday_effect	has_spikes_and_dips	has_step_changes	error_message
#  0	      0	              1	               3	      True	     -2464.255656	4938.511313	     42772.506055	        ['WEEKLY']	            False	        False	            True
#  1	      2	              1	               0	      False	     -2473.141651	4952.283303	     44942.416463	        ['WEEKLY']	            False	        False	            True
#  2	      1	              1	               0 	      False	     -2479.880885	4963.76177	     46642.953433	        ['WEEKLY']	            False	        False	            True
#  3	      0	              1	               1	      False	     -2470.632377	4945.264753	     44319.379307	        ['WEEKLY']	            False	        False	            True
#  4	      2	              1	               1	      True	     -2463.671247	4937.342493	     42633.299513	        ['WEEKLY']	            False	        False	            True

SQL

Inspect the time series model's coefficients by using the ML.ARIMA_COEFFICIENTS function.

Follow these steps to retrieve the model's coefficients:

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:

   SELECT
   *
   FROM
   ML.ARIMA_COEFFICIENTS(MODEL `bqml_tutorial.ga_arima_model`);

The ar_coefficients output column shows the model coefficients of the autoregressive (AR) part of the ARIMA model. Similarly, the ma_coefficients output column shows the model coefficients of the moving-average (MA) part of the ARIMA model. Both of these columns contain array values, whose lengths are equal to non_seasonal_p and non_seasonal_q, respectively. You saw in the output of the ML.ARIMA_EVALUATE function that the best model has a non_seasonal_p value of 2 and a non_seasonal_q value of 3. Therefore, in the ML.ARIMA_COEFFICIENTS output, the ar_coefficients value is a 2-element array and the ma_coefficients value is a 3-element array. The intercept_or_drift value is the constant term in the ARIMA model.

For more information about the output columns, see ML.ARIMA_COEFFICIENTS function.

BigQuery DataFrames

Inspect the time series model's coefficients by using the coef_ function.

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.

coef = model.coef_
print(coef.peek())

# Expected output:
#       ar_coefficients   ma_coefficients   intercept_or_drift
#   0	 [0.40944762]	   [-0.81168198]	      0.0

The ar_coefficients output column shows the model coefficients of the autoregressive (AR) part of the ARIMA model. Similarly, the ma_coefficients output column shows the model coefficients of the moving-average (MA) part of the ARIMA model. Both of these columns contain array values, whose lengths are equal to non_seasonal_p and non_seasonal_q, respectively.