- 43 - 
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING 
Commission VI 
Symposium held in Mainz, FR Germany, 22 - 25 September 1982 
FACT'JA.L DATA BAS E.S COMPLEME NTI NG 
L:ITERAT URE DATA BASES; 
EXPERIENCE OF THE ST EE L 
INDUSTRY RETRIEVAL W I T.H GRAPH I CAL OU TP UT 
Dr. Gert Dathe 
BFI, Sohnstr. 65,Düsseldorf, FR Germany 
ABSTRACT 
Factual data bases are defined as non-bibliographic data bases. Some charac- 
teristic features of factual information systems are presented. Examples 
for the evaluation of raw data (measured values) by a system with graphical 
display capabilities are reported. Some recommendations for implementing 
‘à factual information system are given. 
  
1. What is a factual data base? 
  
Common definitions are as follows: 
Factual data bases contain immediately the wanted information, whereas 
literature data bases contain just reference to documents (where the wanted 
information is'likely to be found). 
Now, suppose that a data base contains the full texts of documents, so 
no reference is needed. What type of data base is it? It should be denoted 
as a literature data base, if the data model is designed for managing infor- 
mation on documents, i.e.,: 
- There are data fields for author, title, journal, abstract, text etc. 
- Subject descriptors and key words can be used for retrieval. 
The data model of a factual data base is designed for the management of 
information on certain objects like cars, employees, materials, etc., i.e.: 
- There are data fields for the single properties like length, date of 
birth, name heat, conductivity etc. 
- In more sophisticated systems properties values can be used to retrieve 
objects, e.g. all alloys with a heat conductivity within a specified 
range. 
To get the information of the last example out of a literature data base 
the key words "alloy" or "metal" and "heat conductivity" could be used 
for retrieval. Then the referenced documents would have to be looked up 
if values of the heat conductivity in the specified range are reported 
and for which alloys. Of course this is a rather laborious procedure. 
But no rash conclusions should be drawn 
Bibliographic quotation : 
Dathe, G. : Factual data bases complementing literature data bases; experience of the 
steel industry; retrieval with graphical output. In: Int. Archive of Photo- 
grammetry, 24 -VI, pp 43 - So, Mainz 1982