# Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)¶

from dtaidistance import dtw
from dtaidistance import dtw_visualisation as dtwvis
import numpy as np
s1 = np.array([0., 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0])
s2 = np.array([0., 1, 2, 3, 1, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0])
path = dtw.warping_path(s1, s2)
dtwvis.plot_warping(s1, s2, path, filename="warp.png")


## DTW Distance Measure Between Two Series¶

Only the distance measure based on two sequences of numbers:

from dtaidistance import dtw
s1 = [0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0]
s2 = [0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
distance = dtw.distance(s1, s2)
print(distance)


The fastest version (30-300 times) uses c directly but requires an array as input (with the double type, other data types are not yet supported):

from dtaidistance import dtw
import array
s1 = array.array('d',[0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0])
s2 = array.array('d',[0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0])
d = dtw.distance_fast(s1, s2)


Or you can use a numpy array (with dtype double or float):

from dtaidistance import dtw
import numpy as np
s1 = np.array([0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], dtype=np.double)
s2 = np.array([0.0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], dtype=np.double)
d = dtw.distance_fast(s1, s2)


Check the __doc__ for information about the available arguments:

print(dtw.distance.__doc__)


A number of options are foreseen to early stop some paths the dynamic programming algorithm is exploring or tune the distance measure computation:

• window: Only allow for shifts up to this amount away from the two diagonals.
• max_dist: Stop if the returned distance measure will be larger than this value.
• max_step: Do not allow steps larger than this value.
• max_length_diff: Return infinity if difference in length of two series is larger.
• penalty: Penalty to add if compression or expansion is applied (on top of the distance).
• psi: Psi relaxation to ignore begin and/or end of sequences (for cylical sequencies) [2].

## DTW and keep all warping paths¶

If, next to the distance, you also want the full matrix to see all possible warping paths:

from dtaidistance import dtw
s1 = [0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0]
s2 = [0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
distance, paths = dtw.warping_paths(s1, s2)
print(distance)
print(paths)


The matrix with all warping paths can be visualised as follows:

from dtaidistance import dtw
from dtaidistance import dtw_visualisation as dtwvis
import numpy as np
x = np.arange(0, 20, .5)
s1 = np.sin(x)
s2 = np.sin(x - 1)
d, paths = dtw.warping_paths(s1, s2, window=25, psi=2)
best_path = dtw.best_path(paths)
dtwvis.plot_warpingpaths(s1, s2, paths, best_path)


Notice the psi parameter that relaxes the matching at the beginning and end. In this example this results in a perfect match even though the sine waves are slightly shifted.

## DTW between set of series¶

To compute the DTW distance measures between all sequences in a list of sequences, use the method dtw.distance_matrix. You can set variables to use more or less c code (use_c and use_nogil) and parallel or serial execution (parallel).

The distance_matrix method expects a list of lists/arrays:

from dtaidistance import dtw
import numpy as np
series = [
np.array([0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], dtype=np.double),
np.array([0.0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]),
np.array([0.0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0])]
ds = dtw.distance_matrix_fast(series)


or a matrix (in case all series have the same length):

from dtaidistance import dtw
import numpy as np
series = np.array([
[0.0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0],
[0.0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[0.0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]])
ds = dtw.distance_matrix_fast(series)


## DTW between set of series, limited to block¶

You can instruct the computation to only fill part of the distance measures matrix. For example to distribute the computations over multiple nodes, or to only compare source series to target series.

from dtaidistance import dtw
import numpy as np
series = np.array([
[0., 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0],
[0., 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[1., 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1],
[0., 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0],
[0., 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
[1., 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1]])
ds = dtw.distance_matrix_fast(series, block=((1, 4), (3, 5)))


The output in this case will be:

#  0     1    2    3       4       5
[[ inf   inf  inf     inf     inf  inf]    # 0
[ inf   inf  inf  1.4142  0.0000  inf]    # 1
[ inf   inf  inf  2.2360  1.7320  inf]    # 2
[ inf   inf  inf     inf  1.4142  inf]    # 3
[ inf   inf  inf     inf     inf  inf]    # 4
[ inf   inf  inf     inf     inf  inf]]   # 5


## DTW based on shape (z-normalization)¶

If you are interested in comparing only the shape, and not the absolute differences and offset, you need to z-normalize the data first. This can be achieved using the numpy zscore function:

import numpy as np
a = np.array([0.1, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1])
from scipy import stats
az = stats.zscore(a)
# az = array([-0.90453403,  1.50755672,  0.30151134, -0.90453403])