arXiv:2608.13513cs.CVcs.LG2026-08

将表格数据转为图像,用自组织映射保留特征关系,提升模型性能与可解释性。

TabSOM: A tabular-to-image encoding method based on self-organizing maps

论文配图:TabSOM: A tabular-to-image encoding method based on self-organizing maps
图 1 · 摘自论文原文
  • 基于自组织映射构建固定位置的特征布局和关系图,保留特征间关联。
  • 在12个公开数据集上排名前二,性能方差最低,稳定性优于现有方法。
  • 提供两种可解释性分析工具,适合关注模型透明度的研究者使用。

表格转图像方法近年来兴起,利用卷积神经网络和视觉变换器的高预测性能。它们将表格数据转化为图像表示,通过降维方法(如 t-SNE、UMAP、PCA)确定每个特征的固定像素位置。然而,这些方法仅编码单个特征的边际值,忽略了特征间的关系。本文提出 TabSOM,一种基于自组织映射(SOM)的表格转图像编码方法,具备:(i) 通过无碰撞匈牙利分配确定每个特征在画布上的固定位置;(ii) 从 SOM 组分平面提取成对特征关系图。生成的图像包含两层多尺度节点通道:一层编码固定尺度的特征值,另一层以空间连接形式表达特征间交互。引入两种 SOM 驱动的可解释性方法:原型启发的偏依赖图和类别分离重要性评分。在12个公开二分类数据集上对比12种现有方法,TabSOM 在所有数据集上均位列第一或第二,且表现方差最低。结合随机森林、XGBoost 和 SHAP 的验证表明,其类别分离得分与主流基线在关键特征上具合理一致性,同时捕捉到输入数据的互补结构信息。结果证明,TabSOM 是应用于表格数据的深度学习架构的有效且可解释的桥梁,弥合了该领域性能与可解释性的鸿沟。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Tabular-to-image methods have emerged as novel approaches to leverage the high predictive performance of convolutional neural networks and vision transformers. They convert tabular data into image representations, mapping each feature at a fixed pixel location derived from a dimensionality-reduction method (e.g., t-SNE, UMAP, PCA). However, they encode only the marginal value of each feature and discard information about feature relationships. We propose TabSOM, a tabular-to-image encoding built on the Self-Organizing Map (SOM), which provides: (i) a spatial layout in which every input feature occupies a fixed canvas position derived from its component plane via collision-free Hungarian assignment; and (ii) a graph that captures pairwise feature relationships derived from the SOM component planes. The resulting image stacks two multi-scale node channels: one encodes feature values at fixed scales, while the other encodes pairwise feature interactions as spatial connections between related features. Two SOM-derived interpretability approaches are introduced: a prototype-inspired partial dependence plot and a class--separation importance score. Benchmarked against twelve existing tabular-to-image methods across public binary-classification datasets, TabSOM ranks first or second on every dataset and achieves the lowest variance of any method evaluated. Interpretability obtained with TabSOM was validated against Random Forest, XGBoost, and SHAP, the class-separation score shows reasonable agreement with established baselines on the top-ranked features while capturing complementary structural information from input data. These results demonstrate that TabSOM provides an effective and interpretable approach for applying deep learning architectures to tabular data, bridging the performance--interpretability gap in this domain.

表格数据图像编码可解释性自组织映射

Thank you to arXiv for use of its open access interoperability. PaperDance 不是 arXiv 官方产品;中文卡片由大模型生成,请以原文为准。