Terminology

Here is a list of definitions that are used throughout the User Guide and in Spine Toolbox.

Spine Toolbox Terminology

  • Data Connection is a project item used to store a collection of data files that may or may not be in Spine data format. It facilitates data transfer from original data sources e.g. spreadsheet files to Spine Toolbox. The original data source file does not need to conform to the format that Spine Toolbox is capable of reading, since there we can use an interpreting layer (Data Interface) between the raw data and the Spine format database (Data Store).
  • Data Interface is a project item that can be used to import data from e.g. an Excel file, transform it to Spine data structure, and into a Data Store.
  • Data Store is a project item. It’s a Spine Toolbox internal data container which follows the Spine data model. A data store is implemented using a database, it may be, for example, an SQL database.
  • Project is a Spine Toolbox concept and consists of a data processing chain that is built by the user for solving a particular problem. Current items that constitute a project are; Data Connection, Data Store, Tool, View, and a Data Interface. There can be any number of these items in a project, and they can be connected by drawing links between them.
  • Source directory When in context of Tool templates, a Source directory is the directory where the main program file of the Tool template is located. This is also the recommended place where the Tool template definition file (.json) is saved.
  • Tool is a project item that is used to execute Tool templates. To execute a script or a simulation model in Spine Toolbox, you attach a Tool template to a Tool.
  • Tool template can be a computational process or a simulation model, or it can also be a script to convert data or calculate a new variable. Tool template takes some data as input and produces an output. Tool template contains a reference to the model code, external program that executes the code, and input data that the model code requires. Spine Model is a Tool template from Spine Toolbox’s point-of-view.
  • View A project item that can be used for visualizing project data.
  • Work directory A directory where Tool template execution takes place. When a Tool is executed, Spine Toolbox creates a new work directory, copies all required and optional files needed for running the Tool template to this directory and executes it there. After execution has finished, output or result files can be archived into a timestamped results directory from the work directory.

Spine project Terminology

  • Case study Spine project has 13 case studies that help to improve, validate and deploy different aspects of the Spine Model and Spine Toolbox.
  • Data Interface is a component in Spine Toolbox, which handles connecting to and importing from external data sources.
  • Data Package is a data container format consisting of a metadata descriptor file (‘datapackage.json’) and resources such as data files.
  • Data sources are all the original, unaltered, sources of data that are used to generate necessary input data for Spine Toolbox tools.
  • Scenario A scenario combines data connections to form a meaningful data set for the target tool.
  • Spine data structure Spine data structure defines the format for storing and moving data within Spine Toolbox. A generic data structure allows representation of many different modelling entities. Data structures have a class defining the type of entity they represent, can have properties and can be related to other data structures. Spine data structures can be manipulated and visualized within Spine Toolbox while Spine Model will be able to directly utilize as well as output them.
  • Spine Model An interpreter, which formulates a solver-ready mixed-integer optimization problem based on the input data and the equations defined in the Spine Model. Outputs the solver results.
  • Use case Potential way to use Spine Toolbox. Use cases together are used to test the functionality and stability of Spine Toolbox and Spine Model under different potential circumstances.