Extract clusters info from dendrogram as a matrix

Hello,

Wondering if somebody could guide me here...

I do have data from instruments at different locations (Latitude and Longitude) and depths, and I need to cluster these based on their proximity, and I can do that fine, but I also need to extract the info from the clusters for another analysis.

 This is a very short example of my data:

 ID  Depth  Lat  Lon
 A1     0.33  -14.28  -170.56
 A2     2  -14.24  -169.42
 A3     15  -14.33  -170.83
 A4     14.95  -11.06  -171.09
 A5     17  -14.28  -170.72
 A6     14.8   -0.38  -160.02
 A7     1.5    5.87  -162.05
 A8     0.33   -0.38  -160.02
 A9     12.8   -0.38  -160.02
 A10    2.8   -0.38  -160.02
 A11    7   -0.38  -160.02
 A12    9.8   -0.38  -160.02
 A13    10   -0.38  -160.02

This is the result of using the function dendrogram, with a line at 150 (x-axis), which represent the cluster max cut that I want to apply based on the data I have. </matlabcentral/answers/uploaded_files/100362/test.jpg>

What I need is to extract the clusters in a way similar to this:

 Cluster   ID  Depth  Lat  Lon
 1     A7  1.5  5.87  -162.05
 2     A8  0.33  -0.38  -160.02
 2     A11  7  -0.38  -160.02
 3     A12  9.8  -0.38  -160.02
 3     A13  10  -0.38  -160.02
 3     A9  12.8  -0.38  -160.02
 3     A6  14.8  -0.38  -160.02
 4     A4  14.95  -11.06  -171.09
 5     A3  15  -14.33  -170.83
 6     A5  17  -14.28  -170.72
 7     A1  0.33  -14.28  -170.56
 8     A2  2  -14.24  -169.42

Thank you for your suggestions and/or directions to an existent answer, if that is the case.

Answer 1

[Kris Fedorenko]

Hello Robert,

I am unable to see the image, but sounds like you might find functions like cluster or clusterdata useful.

Are you creating a dendrogram from a binary tree, specified as an (M – 1)-by-3 matrix (e.g. generated with the linkage function)? Then you can just pass on the same matrix to the "cluster" function.

[Kris Fedorenko]

To expand on that short answer, linkage produces a binary tree of hierarchical clusters. To extract cluster labels from that, you need to choose which level of the tree you want to be looking at. That's why "cluster" and "clusterdata" require you to provide a "cutoff" value. This "cutoff" value can be expressed either in terms of distance (same distance metric as used by "linkage") or in terms of the inconsistency coefficient.

To deal with distances in terms of latitude and longitude you might consider taking a look at the distance function from the Mapping Toolbox. Depending on you application, you might want to specify a custom distance metric to supply for the "linkage" function.

[Robert]

Thank you so much Kris, for all of your help with this question and follow-ups. I really appreciated it!