def _split_sparse_columns(arff_data, include_columns):
    """
    obtains several columns from sparse arff representation. Additionally, the
    column indices are re-labelled, given the columns that are not included.
    (e.g., when including [1, 2, 3], the columns will be relabelled to
    [0, 1, 2])

    Parameters
    ----------
    arff_data : tuple
        A tuple of three lists of equal size; first list indicating the value,
        second the x coordinate and the third the y coordinate.

    include_columns : list
        A list of columns to include.

    Returns
    -------
    arff_data_new : tuple
        Subset of arff data with only the include columns indicated by the
        include_columns argument.
    """
    arff_data_new = (list(), list(), list())
    reindexed_columns = {column_idx: array_idx for array_idx, column_idx
                         in enumerate(include_columns)}
    for val, row_idx, col_idx in zip(arff_data[0], arff_data[1], arff_data[2]):
        if col_idx in include_columns:
            arff_data_new[0].append(val)
            arff_data_new[1].append(row_idx)
            arff_data_new[2].append(reindexed_columns[col_idx])
    return arff_data_new