BigQuery ML (aka. BQML) lets you create and execute machine learning models in BigQuery using standard SQL queries. The BigQuery ML Utils library is an integrated suite of machine learning tools for building and using BigQuery ML models.

Install this library in a virtualenv using pip. virtualenv is a tool to create isolated Python environments. The basic problem it addresses is one of dependencies and versions, and indirectly permissions.

With virtualenv, it's possible to install this library without needing system install permissions, and without clashing with the installed system dependencies.

    pip install virtualenv
    virtualenv <your-env>
    source <your-env>/bin/activate
    <your-env>/bin/pip install bigquery-ml-utils

    pip install virtualenv
    virtualenv <your-env>
    <your-env>\Scripts\activate
    <your-env>\Scripts\pip.exe install bigquery-ml-utils

The Transform Predictor feeds input data into the BQML model trained with TRANSFORM. It performs both preprocessing and postprocessing on the input and output. The first argument is a SavedModel which represents the TRANSFORM clause for feature preprocessing. The second argument is a SavedModel or XGBoost Booster which represents the model logic.

The XGBoost Predictor feeds input data into the BQML XGBoost model. It performs both preprocessing and postprocessing on the input and output. The first argument is a XGBoost Booster which represents the model logic. The following arguments are model assets.

BQML Tensorflow Custom Ops provides SQL functions (Date functions, Datetime functions, Time functions and Timestamp functions) that are not available in TensorFlow. The implementation and function behavior align with the BigQuery. This is part of an effort to bridge the gap between the SQL community and the Tensorflow community. The following example returns the same result as TIMESTAMP_ADD(timestamp_expression, INTERVAL int64_expression date_part)

>>> timestamp = tf.constant(['2008-12-25 15:30:00+00', '2023-11-11 14:30:00+00'], dtype=tf.string)
>>> interval = tf.constant([200, 300], dtype=tf.int64)
>>> result = timestamp_ops.timestamp_add(timestamp, interval, 'MINUTE')
tf.Tensor([b'2008-12-25 18:50:00.0 +0000' b'2023-11-11 19:30:00.0 +0000'], shape=(2,), dtype=string)

Note: /usr/share/zoneinfo is needed for parsing time zone which might not be available in your OS. You will need to install tzdata to generate it. For example, add the following code in your Dockerfile.

RUN apt-get update && DEBIAN_FRONTEND="noninteractive" \
    TZ="America/Los_Angeles" apt-get install -y tzdata

The Text Embedding Model Generator automatically loads a text embedding model from Tensorflow hub and integrates a signature such that the resulting model can be immediately integrated within BQML. Currently, the NNLM and BERT embedding models can be selected.

The NNLM model has a model size of <150MB and is recommended for phrases, news, tweets, reviews, etc. NNLM does not carry any default signatures because it is designed to be utilized as a Keras layer; however, the Text Embedding Model Generator takes care of this.

The SWIVEL model has a model size of <150MB and is recommended for phrases, news, tweets, reviews, etc. SWIVEL does not require pre-processing because the embedding model already satisfies BQML imported model requirements. However, in order to align signatures for NNLM, SWIVEL, and BERT, the Text Embedding Model Generator establishes the same input label for SWIVEL.

The BERT model has a model size of ~200MB and is recommended for phrases, news, tweets, reviews, paragraphs, etc. The BERT model does not carry any default signatures because it is designed to be utilized as a Keras layer. The Text Embedding Model Generator takes care of this and also integrates a text preprocessing layer for BERT.