Data used as input to the SharpHog model, and the data created by the running simulation, is defined by the SPBModel schema.  When output is created it is associated relationally and structurally to the input responsible for it.

In this manner, the SPBModel data-structure becomes independant of the SharpHog model as a tool for creating SPBModel data, and other tools which will be used for consuming the data.  That is, once you have an SPBModel Xml file, you have an incredible amount of information, including the input responsible for that information.  Furthermore, the actual Xsd schema can beincluded inline or as a separate file.  The Xsd defines units and ranges, and value-types, and data-relationships in an international standard that is recognized by every application that could be interested in it.

All Modern Applications Use Xml

Any Independent Statistical Analysis, Spreadsheet, or Sophisticated Web Browser Application
Should Have No Trouble Reading the SPBModel SharpHog Model Output Xml Data File
As It Is 
or
You Can Quickly
Convert It to the Xml Specifications of the Consuming Application

The input side of the SharpHog dataset deserves closer examination.

The SharpHog model takes as input the conditions of an actual or theoretical infestation at a date and location.

In the SpotGrowth Database project, days where scientists were in the forest counting insects are called Spot-Visits.  The Spot refers to the location in space; which of the Southern States it is in, the latitude and longitude, the ratios of various species of pine tree in the area.  The Visit refers to the location in time; the actual Date, the current number of dead or infested trees (as compared to yesterday and tomorrow), the current temperature.  A spot always has one or more visits.

The SharpHog model uses the SPBModel schema to define the structure of its data.  The analagous structures to Spots and Visits from the SpotGrowth data in the SPBModel data are called "Batches" and "Frames".  A batch may consist of one or more frames.

Different terms were chosen for a reason.  The Batch-Frame structure (see diagram) can mirror identically data in a Spot-Visit relationship.  When structuring SPBModel data in this manner, a Batch has a Frame for each Visit to the Spot.  When input data is created with this relationship it facilitates verifying the accuracy of the model--the model will run the first frame (and only the first frame), and then the user can compare the model predicted-status for a date to the actual observed-status on that date.  This not the only way to correlate model output to actual field data, but is one means.

But Frame-Batches could also be structured in a manner more interested in creating a lot of output data, which doesn't require an internal set of observations to be stored for later comparison.

For example, say you wanted to get some sort of idea of how important temperature is to the functioning of the model (the model's "sensitivity" to temperature) using differing equations for a particular rate.  Instead of emulating visits to a spot in the frames and batches, a more direct structure would be to create a batch (which uses the default equations), and within that batch create a series of frames which are identical except for slight regular variation in temperature offset (a value set on frames which will offset all temperature values within the model by the given amount).  Create a second batch with the same set of frames and offsets, but in this one also add a replacement equation for one of the rates.

Once each frame from both batches are run through the model, the results could be analyzed statistically to determine the relative importance of temperature in outcome with the different equations.