DATA FLOW MODEL

Should identify how the entities will be used to solve the problem.

The written description should explain each of the processes (not the data) in general terms so that the figure does not become cluttered.

The model should include pre- and post-processing steps. Including:

• Tasks such as identifying study area based on paper maps or GIS coverages (e.g. Humber River)
• Data entry, digitization, scanning required to input data into GIS, or other software.
• Conceptual descriptions of operations performed on data (e.g. locate liquor stores within 1 km of a shopping mall; identify and replace missing climate data; estimate household income per election district).
• The flow model should permit the reader to trace the path from the raw data to the final product.

Students familiar with computer data structures may want to replace the flow model with a formal entity-relationship diagram (if you don’t know what this is don’t worry).