CHAPTER 1

Data Model Overview

How do I get there?

Maps, blueprints, data models

Please show me the way

I gave the steering wheel a heavy tap with my hands as I realized that once again, I was completely lost. It was about an hour before dawn, I was driving in France, and an important business meeting awaited me. I spotted a gas station up ahead that appeared to be open. I parked, went inside, and showed the attendant the address of my destination.

I don’t speak French and the attendant didn’t speak English. The attendant did, however, recognize the name of the company I needed to visit. Wanting to help and unable to communicate verbally, the attendant took out a pen and paper. He drew lines for streets, circles for roundabouts along with numbers for exit paths, and rectangles for his gas station and my destination, MFoods. The picture he drew resembled that which appears in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Simplification of geographic landscape

With this custom-made map, which contained only the information that was relevant to me, I arrived at my address without making a single wrong turn. This map was a model of the actual roads I needed to travel.

A map simplifies a complex geographic landscape in the same way that a data model simplifies a complex information landscape. In many cases, the complexities in the actual data can make those roundabouts in France look ridiculously simple. This chapter explains the data model and its role as an invaluable wayfinding tool. It also introduces the publishing case study which appears in each chapter, allowing you to build on prior work.