How can I plot more than one value in the same date?

Question

I am trying to plot values that occur in different days and times. I am using DateListPlot, but it plots all the values for a day in the same day. Is there a way to somehow "expand" the x-axis to show the hours?. Is there anything such as a "TimeListPlot" ? Example:

dateValues={{{2011, 2, 11, 14, 56, 0.}, 107}, {{2011, 2, 11, 14, 57, 0.}, 104}, 
{{2011, 2, 11, 14, 59, 0.}, 97}, {{2011, 2, 11, 17, 5, 0.}, 96}, 
{{2011, 2, 11, 17, 6, 0.}, 94}, {{2011, 3, 11, 9, 34, 0.}, 102}, 
{{2011, 5, 11, 12, 37, 0.}, 100}, {{2011, 5, 11, 12, 38, 0.}, 99}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 14, 53, 0.}, 121}, {{2011, 7, 11, 14, 55, 0.}, 106}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 14, 56, 0.}, 106}, {{2011, 7, 11, 14, 57, 0.}, 107}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 19, 6, 0.}, 111}, {{2011, 8, 11, 18, 58, 0.}, 106}, 
{{2011, 8, 11, 19, 0, 0.}, 102}, {{2011, 8, 11, 19, 1, 0.}, 103}, 
{{2011, 9, 11, 17, 42, 0.}, 95}, {{2011, 9, 11, 17, 46, 0.}, 94}, 
{{2011, 9, 11, 19, 9, 0.}, 102}, {{2011, 10, 11, 19, 5, 0.}, 106}, 
{{2011, 10, 11, 19, 6, 0.}, 107}, {{2011, 10, 11, 19, 8, 0.}, 97}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 48, 0.}, 107}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 49, 0.}, 106}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 50, 0.}, 106}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 51, 0.}, 91}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 52, 0.}, 92}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 53, 0.}, 123}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 54, 0.}, 120}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 55, 0.}, 98}}

Then, if you plot it:

DateListPlot[dateValues]

You get all the first 5 values in the same column.

Lets try to plot more than one value in the "relaxed" axis that @doctor_image created:

dateValues2={{{2011, 2, 11, 14, 56, 0.}, 107, 60, 51}, {{2011, 2, 11, 14, 57, 0.}, 104, 60, 50}, 
{{2011, 2, 11, 14, 59, 0.}, 97, 60, 46}, {{2011, 2, 11, 17, 5, 0.}, 96, 65, 49}, 
{{2011, 2, 11, 17, 6, 0.}, 94, 66, 71}, {{2011, 3, 11, 9, 34, 0.}, 102, 66, 51}, 
{{2011, 5, 11, 12, 37, 0.}, 100, 65, 59}, {{2011, 5, 11, 12, 38, 0.}, 99, 66, 53}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 14, 53, 0.}, 121, 83, 44}, {{2011, 7, 11, 14, 55, 0.}, 106, 59, 37}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 14, 56, 0.}, 106, 62, 35}, {{2011, 7, 11, 14, 57, 0.}, 107, 69, 50}, 
{{2011, 7, 11, 19, 6, 0.}, 111, 66, 49}, {{2011, 8, 11, 18, 58, 0.}, 106, 67, 55}, 
{{2011, 8, 11, 19, 0, 0.}, 102, 64, 50}, {{2011, 8, 11, 19, 1, 0.}, 103, 68, 53}, 
{{2011, 9, 11, 17, 42, 0.}, 95, 60, 47}, {{2011, 9, 11, 17, 46, 0.}, 94, 58, 43},    
{{2011, 9, 11, 19, 9, 0.}, 102, 61, 54}, {{2011, 10, 11, 19, 5, 0.}, 106, 69, 49}, 
{{2011, 10, 11, 19, 6, 0.}, 107, 68, 51}, {{2011, 10, 11, 19, 8, 0.}, 97, 60, 47}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 48, 0.}, 107, 68, 53}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 49, 0.}, 106, 66, 47}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 50, 0.}, 106, 64, 49}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 51, 0.}, 91, 71, 77}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 52, 0.}, 92, 72, 82}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 53, 0.}, 123, 85, 57}, 
{{2011, 11, 11, 11, 54, 0.}, 120, 82, 62}, {{2011, 11, 11, 11, 55, 0.}, 98, 81, 77}}

I managed to plot them on a regular graphics, but can not use the "relaxed axis":

With[{labels = 
Rotate[DateString@#, (3 \[Pi])/2] & /@ dateValues2[[All, 1]]}, 
ListPlot[{dateValues2[[All, 2]], dateValues2[[All, 3]], 
dateValues2[[All, 4]]}, 
Ticks -> {Transpose[{Range@Length@labels, labels}], Automatic}, 
Filling -> {1 -> {2}}, Joined -> {False, False, True}]]

It is a visual way to plot blood pressure and pulse. Any suggestion on how to use the "relaxed" axis?

Answer 1

This will plot the date values regularly spaced apart, with the dates as rotated string labels on the x-axis, in a fashion similar to that you describe in Excel.

With[{labels = Rotate[DateString@#, (3 \[Pi])/2] & /@ dateValues[[All, 1]]}, 
 ListPlot[dateValues[[All, 2]], 
  Ticks -> {Transpose[{Range@Length@labels, labels}], Automatic},Filling->Axis]]

With a little more fiddling, it is possible to get something that tries to reflect the proper flow of the time line. Though it constrains points to have a minimum spacing between them.

(* Ease points that are close to one another apart, 
by minimum separation MinSeparation * ( Max-Min ) of data  *)

Options[Relax] = {MinSeparation -> 0.02};
Relax[data_, OptionsPattern[]] := 
 With[{sep = OptionValue@MinSeparation (Max@data - Min@data)}, 
  Flatten[{First@data, First@data + Accumulate[If[# < sep, sep, #] & /@ Differences@data]}]]

Plot the values with date labels:

With[{labels = Rotate[DateString@#, (3 \[Pi])/2] & /@ dateValues[[All, 1]], 
  softCoords = Relax[AbsoluteTime /@ dateValues[[All, 1]]]}, 
 ListPlot[{softCoords, dateValues[[All, 2]]}\[Transpose], 
  Ticks -> {{softCoords, labels}\[Transpose], Automatic}, 
  Filling -> Axis, AxesOrigin -> {First@softCoords - 10^6, 80}]]

For your revised data here is the Plotting code:

With[{labels = 
   Rotate[DateString@#, (3 \[Pi])/2] & /@ dateValues2[[All, 1]], 
  softCoords = Relax[AbsoluteTime /@ dateValues2[[All, 1]]]}, 
 ListPlot[{
 {softCoords, dateValues2[[All, 2]]}\[Transpose], 
 {softCoords, dateValues2[[All, 3]]}\[Transpose], 
 {softCoords, dateValues2[[All, 4]]}\[Transpose]}, 
  Ticks -> {{softCoords, labels}\[Transpose], Automatic}, 
  AxesOrigin -> {First@softCoords - 10^6, 0}, 
  Joined -> {False, False, True}, Filling -> {1 -> {2}}]]

Giving a plot like this:

Relax generates a set of new coordinates for the data, which have been eased apart.

These new coordinates then form the basis of the Relaxed plot constructed using ListPlot.

Each set of data associated with a date can then be fed into ListPlot as a list of {softcoordinate,value } pairs ( i.e. {AbsoluteTime, value } ). This is achieved by the idiom:

{softCoords, dateValues2[[All, 2]]}\[Transpose]

Answer 2

DateListPlot does handle hours and minutes correctly. However, your data spans many months (from February to November), so at this scale a difference of a single hour is simply not visible.

Also, I have the impression that in your data the month and day may be exchanged. You have the 11th of each month. Note: first value is year, second is month, third is day.