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Getting Started

MIDAS is an exploratory data analysis tool that runs in your browser. Your data is processed locally and never sent to external servers (details). No installation required - start analyzing right away.

Tutorial: Exploratory Data Analysis with the Iris Dataset

1. Open Sample Data

  1. Open MIDAS - the launcher screen appears
  2. Click Iris dataset from the "Sample Data" section
  3. The project screen opens

Selecting Iris dataset from Sample Data section in MIDAS launcher

The Iris dataset contains measurements of petals and sepals from three species of iris flowers (150 rows × 5 columns).

2. Explore the Data

Three tabs open automatically:

  • Data Table (left): Displays data in tabular format
  • Statistics (top right): Shows statistics for selected columns
  • Selected Rows (bottom right): Details of selected rows

Try the interactive demo below. Click columns to select them, or click rows to view their details.

View Live Demo

Click to launch the MIDAS application

Each column header shows the data type (float64, string, etc.) and measurement scale (interval, nominal, etc.). Click the button at the right edge of a column to sort by that column.

MIDAS automatically infers data types and measurement scales when loading data. If the inference is incorrect, right-click a column to change it. Measurement scales play an important role in statistical analysis and graph creation. See Data Preparation and Import for details.

3. View Basic Statistics

Let's check basic statistics to understand the data overview.

  1. Click a column name in the Data Table tab (e.g., sepal_length)
  2. A histogram and statistics automatically appear in the Statistics tab on the upper right

Statistics for sepal_length column in Statistics tab: histogram, Moments, Spread, and Quantiles

Statistics displayed:

  • Moments: mean, std (standard deviation), skewness, ex. kurt (excess kurtosis)
  • Spread: iqr (interquartile range), range
  • Quantiles: 0%(min), 1%, 5%, 10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%, 95%, 99%, 100%(max)

Select rows from histogram:

Click a bar in the histogram to select rows within that range. Details appear in the Selected Rows tab at the bottom right.

You can examine selected row data in detail or analyze only data within a specific range.

Selected row details in Selected Rows tab: row data from histogram selection displayed in tabular format

Double-click a bin to open a new Filtered Data tab containing only the data in that bin. The original dataset is not modified.

FilteredData tab opened by double-clicking a histogram bin

Select two columns to view relationships:

  1. With sepal_length selected, Ctrl/Cmd+click sepal_width
  2. The Statistics tab displays a scatter plot matrix and statistics comparison

Relationships between two columns in Statistics tab: scatter plot matrix and statistics comparison for sepal_length and sepal_width

4. Create Graphs

Let's visualize the data to discover patterns.

Create a Scatter Plot

  1. Select Analysis → Graph Builder... from the menu bar
  2. Select Scatter Plot from the Graph Type dropdown
  3. Select from each dropdown:
    • X-Axis: sepal_length (interval) (sepal length)
    • Y-Axis: sepal_width (interval) (sepal width)
    • Color (Optional): species (nominal) (iris species)
  4. A scatter plot appears, color-coded by species

Scatter plot created in Graph Builder: sepal_length × sepal_width relationship color-coded by species

You can see that data clusters in different regions for each species.

See Creating Graphs and Advanced Graph Creation for more details.

5. Save Your Project

MIDAS offers two ways to save your work.

Save to Browser

  1. Select File → Save to Browser (or Ctrl/Cmd+S)
  2. The project is automatically saved to your browser

Next time you open MIDAS, saved projects appear in the "Quick Access" section of the launcher screen for quick resumption. Clearing browser data will delete saved projects, so export important projects as files too.

Export as File

  1. Select File → Export Project... (or Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+S)
  2. Confirm or edit the filename (defaults to project name)
  3. Click Save
  4. A project file (.mds format) is downloaded

Exported MDS files can be shared with other users. Files are automatically signed with a digital signature, enabling author verification and tamper detection. See Project Files (MDS) for details.

Open an Exported File

  1. In the MIDAS launcher screen, click Open File
  2. Select a saved .mds file
  3. The project loads and restores to its saved state

Next steps

See also