Abstract
This paper focuses on some issues relating to data modelling, quality and management in a specific domain: forests. Many forest domain specialists e.g., botanists, zoologists, economists and others collect vast volumes of data about the forest fauna and flora, climate, soil, etc. The favourite tools for managing this data are spreadsheets and/or using popular DBMS packages such as Access or FoxPro. The use of these tools introduces two major problems: loss of semantics and poor data structure. These problems and associated issues are examined in this the paper.
To address these problems, we propose a method for database reverse engineering from spreadsheet tables to a conceptual model and suggest a design of a prototype tool (TREAT). We also explain the motivation for and the methodology and approach that we adopted. The interactive process used to identify the constituents of the spreadsheet tables and data semantics are explained. Semi-automated analysis of the associations between the data items in terms of the domain knowledge, constraints and functional dependencies between the data items are also described. The output from the tool may be selected as either an Entity-Relationship or Object or Object-Relational model.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Date, C.J., An Introduction to Database Systems, Addison-Wesley, 1995
Umar, A., Object-Oriented Client/Server Internet Environments, Prentice-Hall, 1997
Korth, H.F., Silberschatz, A., Database Research Faces the Information Explosion, Communications of the ACM, 40(2), Feb 1997, pp. 139–142
DeLisi, C., Computation and the Human Genome Project: An Historical Perspective, in G.I. Bell and T.G. Marr (eds.) Computers and DNA, Addison-Wesley, 1988, pp. 13–20
Boehm, B., Software Engineering Economics, Prentice-Hall, 1981
Fisher, G., Experimental Materials Databases, in M.J. Bishop (ed.), Guide to Human Genome Computing, Academic Press, 1994, pp. 39–58
Burks, C., The Flow of Nucleotide Sequence Data into Data Banks., in G.I. Bell and T.G. Marr (eds.) Computers and DNA, Addison-Wesley, 1988, pp. 35–46
Legg, C.A., Integrated Forest Resource Information System, Brochure prepared for FIMP, Jakarta, 1998
Hennessey, P., Ibrahim, M.T., Fedorec, A.M., Formal Specification, Object Oriented Design and Implementation of an Ephemeral Logger for Database Systems, in R. Wagner and H. Thoma (Eds.), Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA’ 96), Springer-Verlag, 1996, pp.333–355
ISO14000, International Standard ISO 14000-Introduction, http://www.quality.co.uk/iso14000.htm, 1998
Furtado, A.L., Neuhold, E.J., Formal Techniques for Database Design, Springer-Verlag, 1986
Dawson, C.W., Dawson, R.J., Towards more flexible management of software systems development using meta-models, Software Engineering Journal, May 1995, pp.79–88
Chen, P. The Entity-Relationship Model: Towards a Unified View of Data, ACM Trans. Database Systems, 1(1), 1976, pp. 9–36
Rumbaugh, J., Blaha, M., Premeralni, W., Eddy, F., Lorensen, W., Object-Oriented Modeling and Design, Prentice-Hall, 1991
Pizano, A., Klinger, A., Cardenas, A., Specification of Spatial Integrity Constraints in Pictorial Database, IEEE Computer, 22(12), Dec 1989, pp.59–71
Ibrahim, M.T., FIMP (Forest Inventory Management Project) Database Management Report, 1998, in preparation
Sneed, H., Planning the Reengineering of Legacy Systems, IEEE Software Jan 1995
Chikofsky, E., Cross II J., Reverse Engineering and Design Recovery: A Taxonomy, IEEE Software, 7(1), Jan 1990, pp.13–19
Premerlani, W., Blaha, M., An Approach for Reverse Engineering of Relational Databases, Communications of the ACM, 37(5), May 1994, pp.42–49
Holtzblatt, L.J., et.al, Design Recovery for Distributed Systems, IEEE Trans Software Engineering, 23(7), July 1997, pp.461–472
Markosian, L., et al, Using an Enabling Technology to Reengineer Legacy Systems, Communications of the ACM, 37(5), May 1994, pp. 58–71
Aiken P., Muntz, A., Richards, R., DoD Legacy Systems, Reverse Engineering Data Requirements, Communications of the ACM, 37(5), May 1994, pp. 26–41
Semmens, L., Allen, P., Using Yourdon and Z: an Approach to Formal Specification, J.E. Nicholls (Ed.) Proc Z User Workshop, Oxford 1990, Springer-Verlag, 1991, pp. 228–253
Fraser, M.D., Informal and Formal Requirements Specification Languages: Bridging the Gap, IEEE Trans Software Engineering, 17(5), May 1991, pp. 454–466
Sockut, G.H., Malhotra, A Full-Screen Facility for Defining Relational and Entity-Relationship Database Schemas, IEEE Software, 5(6), Nov 1988, pp.68–78
Blaha, M., Premerlani, W., Object Oriented Modeling and Design for Database Applications, Prentice-Hall, 1998
Laumonier, Y., B. King, C. Legg, K. Rennolls (eds.), Data Management and Modelling using Remote Sensing and GIS for Temporal Forest Land Inventory, Proceedings of An Interantional Conference on, EU, 1999.
EC/IUFRO, FIRS (Forest Information from Remote Sensing), Proceedings of Conference on Remote Sensing and Forest Monitoring, Rogow, Poland 1–3 June 1999 EC 2000.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ibrahim, M., Fedorec, A.M., Rennolls, K. (2001). TREAT: A Reverse Engineering Method and Tool for Environmental Databases. In: Mayr, H.C., Lazansky, J., Quirchmayr, G., Vogel, P. (eds) Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2113. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44759-8_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44759-8_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42527-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-44759-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive