TABLE OF CONTENTS One of the most difficult tasks in developing a new data management project or in migrating data from a legacy system is to clearly define and understand the wide variety of data types and formats involved. In many cases, especially with legacy systems, there is limited or unclear documentation regarding data formats and data types for the data stored in the system. This chapter reviews the most common data types and data formats, defines a general set of guidelines regarding data format standards, and introduces the concepts and methods of data validation. Examples of typical geotechnical data are used to illustrate these concepts and methods.
Part of the planning process in database design must be devoted to considering the types of data that will be stored in the database. Although most geotechnical data are fairly straightforward and standardized through years of practical experience, individual needs vary. In part, data types and formats are determined by the user's data. Other considerations are dictated by the structure of the database management system (DBMS) application to be used. The selection of an appropriate DBMS application is covered in more detail in another chapter, but some of the factors to review are included here.
Early in the planning process, careful thought should be given to the issues of scalability and portability.
Database scalability. For a small company developing a geotechnical database for the first time or larger companies considering changing to a new system, the issue of scalability...
