How to plot a simple lineplot in SAS

Question

My data are structured as follows (these are just sample data as the original data are secret)

id | crime   | location | crimedate
------------------------------
1  | Theft   | public   | 2019-01-04
1  | Theft   | public   | 2019-02-06
1  | Theft   | public   | 2019-02-20
1  | Theft   | private  | 2019-03-10
1  | Theft   | private  | 2019-03-21
1  | Theft   | public   | 2019-03-01
1  | Theft   | private  | 2019-03-14
1  | Theft   | public   | 2019-06-15
1  | Murder  | private  | 2019-01-04
1  | Murder  | private  | 2019-10-20
1  | Murder  | private  | 2019-11-18
1  | Murder  | private  | 2019-01-01
1  | Assault | private  | 2019-03-19
1  | Assault | private  | 2019-01-21
1  | Assault | public   | 2019-04-11
1  | Assault | public   | 2019-01-10
…  | …       | …        | … 

My goal is to create a lineplot (time series plot) showing how the numbers of the three crimes have changed over the year. Therefore on the x-axis I would like to show the monthes (1-12) and on the y-axis the number of crimes in each month. There should be two lines (one for each location).

I started with this code:

DATA new;
 SET old;
 month=month(datepart(crimedate));
RUN;

PROC sgplot DATA=new;
    series x=month y=no_of_crimes / group=location;
run;

But I have no idea, how I can aggregate the number of crimes per month. Could anyone please give me a hint? I have been looking in the internet for a solution, but usually the examples just use data that are already aggregated.

Answer 1

The SG routines will aggregate Y axis values for a VBAR or HBAR statement. The same aggregate information displayed in a SERIES statement would have to be from a apriori aggregate computation, easily done with Proc SUMMARY.

Additionally, to plot the counts for each crime in a separate visual, you would want a BY CRIME statement, or Proc SGPANEL with PANELBY crime.

The crime datetime value does not have to be down transformed to a date value, you can use the appropriate datetime format in the procedures and they will auto-aggregate based on the formatted value.

Example with some simulated crime data:

data have;
  do precinct = 1 to 10;
    do date = '01jan2018'd to '31dec2018'd;
      do seq = 1 to 20*ranuni(123);
        length crime $10 location $8;
        crime = scan('theft,assault,robbery,dnd', ceil(4*ranuni(123)));
        location = scan ('public,private', ceil(2*ranuni(123)));
        crime_dt = dhms(date,0,0,floor('24:00't*ranuni(123)));
        output;      
      end;
    end;
  end;
  drop date;
  format crime_dt datetime19.;
run;

* shorter graphs for SO answer;
ods graphics / height=300px; 

proc sgplot data=have;
  title "VBAR all crimes combined by location";
  vbar crime_dt 
  / group=location
    groupdisplay=cluster
  ;

  format crime_dt dtmonyy7.;
run;

proc sgpanel data=have;
  title "VBAR crime * location";
  panelby crime;
  vbar crime_dt 
  / group=location
    groupdisplay=cluster
  ;

  format crime_dt dtmonyy7.;
run;

proc summary data=have noprint;
  class crime_dt crime location;
  format crime_dt dtmonyy7.;
  output out=freqs;
run;

proc sgplot data=freqs;
  title "SERIES all crimes,summary _FREQ_ * location";
  where _type_ = 5;
  series x=crime_dt y=_freq_ / group=location;
  xaxis type=discrete;
run;

proc sgpanel data=freqs;
  title "SERIES all crimes,summary _FREQ_ * crime * location";
  where _type_ = 7;
  panelby crime;
  series x=crime_dt y=_freq_ / group=location;
  rowaxis min=0;
  colaxis type=discrete;
run;

Answer 2

If you want to group by location without definition by type of crime:

proc sql noprint;
   create table new as 
   select id,location
   , month(crimedate) as month,count(crime) as crime_n
   from old
   group by id,location,CALCULATED month;
quit;

proc sgplot  data=new;
   series x=month y=crime_n /group=location;
run;

The result:

To show different series by type of crime you could use sgpanel:

proc sql noprint;
   create table new as 
   select id,crime,location, month(crimedate) as month,count(crime) as crime_n
   from old
   group by id,crime,location,CALCULATED month;
quit;

proc sgpanel  DATA=new;
   panelby location;
   series x=month y=crime_n /group=crime;
run;

The result is:

One more variant of perfoming this data:

proc sql noprint;
   create table new as 
   select id,crime,location, month(crimedate) as month,count(crime) as crime_n
   from old
   group by id,crime,location,CALCULATED month;
quit;

proc sgpanel  DATA=new;
   panelby crime;
   series x=month y=crime_n /group=location GROUPDISPLAY=cluster;
run;

The result is:

Of course, you can specify this plots how you want.

Answer 3

To perhaps answer the question more directly, the VLINE or HLINE plots will summarize the data for you, similar to running a proc freq and then proc sgplot with series.

Using Richard's test data, you'll see this is exactly identical to the plot his PROC FREQ -> SERIES gives:

data have;
  do precinct = 1 to 10;
    do date = '01jan2018'd to '31dec2018'd;
      do seq = 1 to 20*ranuni(123);
        length crime $10 location $8;
        crime = scan('theft,assault,robbery,dnd', ceil(4*ranuni(123)));
        location = scan ('public,private', ceil(2*ranuni(123)));
        crime_dt = dhms(date,0,0,floor('24:00't*ranuni(123)));
        output;      
      end;
    end;
  end;
  drop date;
  format crime_dt datetime19.;
run;

proc sgplot data=have;
  vline crime_dt/group=location groupdisplay=cluster;
  format crime_dt dtmonyy7.;
run;