---
title: "Types of datasets; spatial, temporal data"
subject: "Data Mining"
chapter: 2
key: "semester_7/data_mining:types-of-datasets"
source: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/data_mining/types-of-datasets
site: BCT Engineering
---

# Types of datasets; spatial, temporal data

Data Mining · Chapter 2: Data Pre-processing

- Asked in: year not given
- Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort) on 2026-10-14
- Page: https://www.bctengineer.com/q/semester_7/data_mining/types-of-datasets
- Whole chapter: https://www.bctengineer.com/md/semester_7/data_mining/chapter-2

## Question

What are the types of data sets? What are spatial and temporal data. Give examples.

## Short answer

Data sets: record data (transaction, data matrix, document-term), graph-based (relationships, graph objects), ordered (sequential, sequence, time series, spatial). Spatial data includes location/geometric info (maps, GPS, GIS). Temporal data has time dimension (stock prices, ECG). Spatio-temporal combines both spatial and temporal aspects.

## Answer

A **data set** is a collection of data objects (records) described by attributes. Data sets are grouped into three broad categories (Tan, Steinbach & Kumar).

#### 1. Record data
Each object is a fixed set of attributes with no explicit relation between records.
- **Transaction (market-basket) data**: each record is a set of items bought, e.g. {bread, milk}.
- **Data matrix**: numeric records seen as points in a multi-dimensional space (rows = objects, columns = attributes).
- **Document-term matrix**: each document is a vector of word counts.

#### 2. Graph-based data
- **Data with relationships among objects**: web pages linked by hyperlinks.
- **Data with objects that are graphs**: chemical molecules (atoms as nodes, bonds as edges).

#### 3. Ordered data
- **Sequential data**: ordered sequences of transactions or events, e.g. customer purchase history.
- **Sequence (genetic) data**: DNA strings of A, C, G, T.
- **Time series data**: values measured at successive times.
- **Spatial data**: objects with a position in space.

#### Spatial data
Data whose attributes include location or geometric information, such as coordinates, shapes and distances. Nearby locations tend to have similar values (**spatial autocorrelation**). *Examples*: maps and satellite images, rainfall or temperature at weather stations, GPS locations of towns, land-use data in GIS.

#### Temporal data
Data in which the time dimension is important, so values change or are recorded with time. Observations close in time are related (**temporal autocorrelation**). *Examples*: monthly sales, daily stock prices, hourly electricity load, ECG signals, daily temperature of Kathmandu.

Spatio-temporal data has both, e.g. monthly average temperature at many places on the earth.

## Check yourself

The answer's key points as multiple-choice questions, with the correct option and why.

1. Which are the three broad categories of data sets?
   A. Nominal, ordinal, ratio
   B. Discrete, continuous, binary
   C. Star, snowflake, constellation
   D. Record data, graph-based data, ordered data
   Answer: D. Tan, Steinbach & Kumar group data sets as record, graph-based and ordered. (Key point: Categories)

2. What is spatial data?
   A. Data whose attributes include location or geometric information, e.g. weather station rainfall
   B. Data recorded at successive times only
   C. Data of linked web pages
   D. Sets of items bought
   Answer: A. Spatial data has position; nearby locations tend to be similar (spatial autocorrelation). (Key point: Spatial data)

3. Which is temporal data?
   A. Map of towns
   B. Daily stock prices
   C. Chemical molecule structure
   D. Document-term matrix
   Answer: B. Temporal data has an important time dimension; stock prices change with time. (Key point: Temporal data)

4. Which is an example of record data?
   A. Web pages linked by hyperlinks
   B. DNA sequences
   C. Transaction (market-basket) data like {bread, milk}
   D. Time series
   Answer: C. Records are fixed attribute sets with no explicit relationship between them. (Key point: Record data)

## Related in Data Mining

- [Apriori on HotDogs data with rules](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fdata_mining%3Aapriori-hotdogs-rules) — Data Mining, chapter 4
- [Apriori on four transactions, support 2](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fdata_mining%3Aapriori-y63-min-support-2) — Data Mining, chapter 4
- [Apriori on restaurant orders](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fdata_mining%3Aapriori-restaurant) — Data Mining, chapter 4
- [Apriori on t1-t5 with rules](https://www.bctengineer.com/question.md?key=semester_7%2Fdata_mining%3Aapriori-t1-t5-rules) — Data Mining, chapter 4

## Related in other subjects

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