Simple HeatMap & HCA

What is the Simple HeatMap & HCA calculation & Excel exporter?

This tool provides a quick and intuitive way to visualize multivariate data using a heatmap with hierarchical clustering (HCA). The color-coded map helps identify patterns and similarities among samples and variables.

How to use

Prepare a CSV file where each row represents a sample (e.g., individual, condition, timepoint) and each column represents a variable (e.g., metabolite, gene expression, score). The tool will normalize each column (z-score), perform hierarchical clustering, and return a heatmap image and a downloadable Excel file with colored cells.

Learn: How to read a heatmap

A heatmap is a color-coded representation of data values. By default, values are standardized (z-scored) across each column. This means red cells show higher-than-average values, and blue cells show lower-than-average values.

Hierarchical clustering (HCA) is applied to both rows and columns to group similar samples and variables. This clustering is visualized by dendrograms, allowing for intuitive interpretation of patterns.

• Rows (samples): Similar samples are grouped based on their overall profiles.
• Columns (variables): Variables showing similar behavior across samples are grouped together.
• White color: Indicates values close to the column average.
• Red / Blue: Represent higher / lower values than average, respectively.

This kind of visualization is widely used in bioinformatics, psychology, and data science to discover hidden patterns in complex datasets.