How can I use SOM algorithm for classification prediction - r

Question

I would like to see If SOM algorithm can be used for classification prediction.
I used to code below but I see that the classification results are far from being right. For example, In the test dataset, I get a lot more than just the 3 values that I have in the training target variable. How can I create a prediction model that will be in alignment to the training target variable?
library(kohonen)
library(HDclassif)
data(wine)
set.seed(7)
training <- sample(nrow(wine), 120)
Xtraining <- scale(wine[training, ])
Xtest <- scale(wine[-training, ],
center = attr(Xtraining, "scaled:center"),
scale = attr(Xtraining, "scaled:scale"))
som.wine <- som(Xtraining, grid = somgrid(5, 5, "hexagonal"))
som.prediction$pred <- predict(som.wine, newdata = Xtest,
trainX = Xtraining,
trainY = factor(Xtraining$class))
And the result:
$unit.classif
[1] 7 7 1 7 1 11 6 2 2 7 7 12 11 11 12 2 7 7 7 1 2 7 2 16 20 24 25 16 13 17 23 22
[33] 24 18 8 22 17 16 22 18 22 22 18 23 22 18 18 13 10 14 15 4 4 14 14 15 15 4

Answer 1

This might help:
SOM is an unsupervised classification algorithm, so you shouldn't expect it to be trained on a dataset that contains a classifier label (if you do that it will need this information to work, and will be useless with unlabelled datasets)
The idea is that it will kind of "convert" an input numeric vector to a network unit number (try to run your code again with a 1 per 3 grid and you'll have the output you expected)
You'll then need to convert those network units numbers back into the categories you are looking for (that is the key part missing in your code)
Reproducible example below will output a classical classification error. It includes one implementation option for the "convert back" part missing in your original post.
Though, for this particular dataset, the model overfitts pretty quickly: 3 units give the best results.
#Set and scale a training set (-1 to drop the classes)
data(wine)
set.seed(7)
training <- sample(nrow(wine), 120)
Xtraining <- scale(wine[training, -1])
#Scale a test set (-1 to drop the classes)
Xtest <- scale(wine[-training, -1],
center = attr(Xtraining, "scaled:center"),
scale = attr(Xtraining, "scaled:scale"))
#Set 2D grid resolution
#WARNING: it overfits pretty quickly
#Errors are 36% for 1 unit, 63% for 2, 93% for 3, 89% for 4
som_grid <- somgrid(xdim = 1, ydim=3, topo="hexagonal")
#Create a trained model
som_model <- som(Xtraining, som_grid)
#Make a prediction on test data
som.prediction <- predict(som_model, newdata = Xtest)
#Put together original classes and SOM classifications
error.df <- data.frame(real = wine[-training, 1],
predicted = som.prediction$unit.classif)
#Return the category number that has the strongest association with the unit
#number (0 stands for ambiguous)
switch <- sapply(unique(som_model$unit.classif), function(x, df){
cat <- as.numeric(names(which.max(table(
error.df[error.df$predicted==x,1]))))
if(length(cat)<1){
cat <- 0
}
return(c(x, cat))
}, df = data.frame(real = wine[training, 1], predicted = som_model$unit.classif))
#Translate units numbers into classes
error.df$corrected <- apply(error.df, MARGIN = 1, function(x, switch){
cat <- switch[2, which(switch[1,] == x["predicted"])]
if(length(cat)<1){
cat <- 0
}
return(cat)
}, switch = switch)
#Compute a classification error
sum(error.df$corrected == error.df$real)/length(error.df$real)