Ask HN: How do you analyze time series data in 2024?

2 points

2 years ago

I inherited a large time series JSON dataset in 2024. I've been successful in using the Observable Framework[1] by writing a Rust (rust-script) data loader[2] to parse and plot simple line charts[3] to visually see the data. There are hundreds of graphs over years of data so I would like to identify what graphs I should be paying attention to. My initial thought is to calculate metrics on each graph such as:

  - Variability: how "spread out" are the data points from one another?
  - Trend: direction of data path, up or down?
  - Slope: are the data points increasing or decreasing?
  - Level: where are the data points on the vertical axis?

What libraries, AI, databases, etc... would you recommend that would allow me to calculate these values? I am no data scientist and don't need forecasting but overall, I just want a dashboard that shows the most "important" graphs.

[1] https://observablehq.com/framework/

[2] https://observablehq.com/framework/loaders

[3] https://observablehq.com/@observablehq/plot-simple-line-chart

edit: the x-axis is Time while the y-axis can be values such as duration, frequency, intervals

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