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Meta-learning how to forecast time series

Author

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  • Thiyanga S Talagala
  • Rob J Hyndman
  • George Athanasopoulos

Abstract

A crucial task in time series forecasting is the identification of the most suitable forecasting method. We present a general framework for forecast-model selection using meta-learning. A random forest is used to identify the best forecasting method using only time series features. The framework is evaluated using time series from the M1 and M3 competitions and is shown to yield accurate forecasts comparable to several benchmarks and other commonly used automated approaches of time series forecasting. A key advantage of our proposed framework is that the time-consuming process of building a classifier is handled in advance of the forecasting task at hand.

Suggested Citation

  • Thiyanga S Talagala & Rob J Hyndman & George Athanasopoulos, 2018. "Meta-learning how to forecast time series," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 6/18, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    • Handle: RePEc:msh:ebswps:2018-6
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    File URL: https://www.monash.edu/business/ebs/research/publications/ebs/wp06-2018.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hyndman, Rob J. & Khandakar, Yeasmin, 2008. "Automatic Time Series Forecasting: The forecast Package for R," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 27(i03).
    2. Hyndman, Rob J. & Koehler, Anne B. & Snyder, Ralph D. & Grose, Simone, 2002. "A state space framework for automatic forecasting using exponential smoothing methods," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 439-454.
    3. Shah, Chandra, 1997. "Model selection in univariate time series forecasting using discriminant analysis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 489-500, December.
    4. Kang, Yanfei & Hyndman, Rob J. & Smith-Miles, Kate, 2017. "Visualising forecasting algorithm performance using time series instance spaces," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 345-358.
    5. Fred Collopy & J. Scott Armstrong, 1992. "Rule-Based Forecasting: Development and Validation of an Expert Systems Approach to Combining Time Series Extrapolations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(10), pages 1394-1414, October.
    6. Timo Teräsvirta & Chien‐Fu Lin & Clive W. J. Granger, 1993. "Power Of The Neural Network Linearity Test," Journal of Time Series Analysis, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 209-220, March.
    7. Hyndman, Rob J. & Koehler, Anne B., 2006. "Another look at measures of forecast accuracy," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 679-688.
    8. Adya, Monica & Collopy, Fred & Armstrong, J. Scott & Kennedy, Miles, 2001. "Automatic identification of time series features for rule-based forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 143-157.
    9. Makridakis, Spyros & Hibon, Michele, 2000. "The M3-Competition: results, conclusions and implications," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 451-476.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Allison Koenecke & Amita Gajewar, 2019. "Curriculum Learning in Deep Neural Networks for Financial Forecasting," Papers 1904.12887, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2019.
    2. Semenoglou, Artemios-Anargyros & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Makridakis, Spyros & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios, 2021. "Investigating the accuracy of cross-learning time series forecasting methods," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1072-1084.
    3. Fotios Petropoulos & Enno Siemsen, 2023. "Forecast Selection and Representativeness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(5), pages 2672-2690, May.
    4. Alexander Dokumentov & Rob J. Hyndman, 2022. "STR: Seasonal-Trend Decomposition Using Regression," INFORMS Joural on Data Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 50-62, April.
    5. Petropoulos, Fotios & Spiliotis, Evangelos & Panagiotelis, Anastasios, 2023. "Model combinations through revised base rates," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1477-1492.
    6. Canaydin, Ada & Fu, Chun & Balint, Attila & Khalil, Mohamad & Miller, Clayton & Kazmi, Hussain, 2024. "Interpretable domain-informed and domain-agnostic features for supervised and unsupervised learning on building energy demand data," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 360(C).
    7. Talagala, Thiyanga S. & Li, Feng & Kang, Yanfei, 2022. "FFORMPP: Feature-based forecast model performance prediction," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 920-943.
    8. Petropoulos, Fotios & Apiletti, Daniele & Assimakopoulos, Vassilios & Babai, Mohamed Zied & Barrow, Devon K. & Ben Taieb, Souhaib & Bergmeir, Christoph & Bessa, Ricardo J. & Bijak, Jakub & Boylan, Joh, 2022. "Forecasting: theory and practice," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 705-871.
      • Fotios Petropoulos & Daniele Apiletti & Vassilios Assimakopoulos & Mohamed Zied Babai & Devon K. Barrow & Souhaib Ben Taieb & Christoph Bergmeir & Ricardo J. Bessa & Jakub Bijak & John E. Boylan & Jet, 2020. "Forecasting: theory and practice," Papers 2012.03854, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2022.
    9. Montero-Manso, Pablo & Athanasopoulos, George & Hyndman, Rob J. & Talagala, Thiyanga S., 2020. "FFORMA: Feature-based forecast model averaging," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 86-92.
    10. Ma, Shaohui & Fildes, Robert, 2021. "Retail sales forecasting with meta-learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 111-128.
    11. Li, Yiyan & Zhang, Si & Hu, Rongxing & Lu, Ning, 2021. "A meta-learning based distribution system load forecasting model selection framework," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    12. Kang, Yanfei & Cao, Wei & Petropoulos, Fotios & Li, Feng, 2022. "Forecast with forecasts: Diversity matters," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 301(1), pages 180-190.
    13. Thiyanga S. Talagala & Feng Li & Yanfei Kang, 2019. "Feature-based Forecast-Model Performance Prediction," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 21/19, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    14. Yanfei Kang & Rob J Hyndman & Feng Li, 2018. "Efficient generation of time series with diverse and controllable characteristics," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 15/18, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    15. Wang, Xiaoqian & Hyndman, Rob J. & Li, Feng & Kang, Yanfei, 2023. "Forecast combinations: An over 50-year review," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 1518-1547.
    16. Qi, Lingzhi & Li, Xixi & Wang, Qiang & Jia, Suling, 2023. "fETSmcs: Feature-based ETS model component selection," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1303-1317.
    17. Bennett, Donyetta & Mekelburg, Erik & Strauss, Jack & Williams, T.H., 2024. "Unlocking the black box of sentiment and cryptocurrency: What, which, why, when and how?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Shaub, David, 2020. "Fast and accurate yearly time series forecasting with forecast combinations," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 116-120.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    FFORMS (Feature-based FORecast-model Selection); time series features; random forest; algorithm selection problem; classsification.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C10 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - General
    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes

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