personal-portfolio/docs/DATABASE_SCHEMA.md

Database Schema

This document describes the PostgreSQL/PostGIS database schema for the Toronto Neighbourhood Dashboard.

Entity Relationship Diagram

erDiagram
    dim_time {
        int date_key PK
        date full_date UK
        int year
        int month
        int quarter
        string month_name
        bool is_month_start
    }

    dim_cmhc_zone {
        int zone_key PK
        string zone_code UK
        string zone_name
        geometry geometry
    }

    dim_neighbourhood {
        int neighbourhood_id PK
        string name
        geometry geometry
        int population
        numeric land_area_sqkm
        numeric pop_density_per_sqkm
        numeric pct_bachelors_or_higher
        numeric median_household_income
        numeric pct_owner_occupied
        numeric pct_renter_occupied
        int census_year
    }

    dim_policy_event {
        int event_id PK
        date event_date
        date effective_date
        string level
        string category
        string title
        text description
        string expected_direction
        string source_url
        string confidence
    }

    fact_rentals {
        int id PK
        int date_key FK
        int zone_key FK
        string bedroom_type
        int universe
        numeric avg_rent
        numeric median_rent
        numeric vacancy_rate
        numeric availability_rate
        numeric turnover_rate
        numeric rent_change_pct
        string reliability_code
    }

    fact_census {
        int id PK
        int neighbourhood_id FK
        int census_year
        int population
        numeric population_density
        numeric median_household_income
        numeric average_household_income
        numeric unemployment_rate
        numeric pct_bachelors_or_higher
        numeric pct_owner_occupied
        numeric pct_renter_occupied
        numeric median_age
        numeric average_dwelling_value
    }

    fact_crime {
        int id PK
        int neighbourhood_id FK
        int year
        string crime_type
        int count
        numeric rate_per_100k
    }

    fact_amenities {
        int id PK
        int neighbourhood_id FK
        string amenity_type
        int count
        int year
    }

    bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood {
        int id PK
        string cmhc_zone_code FK
        int neighbourhood_id FK
        numeric weight
    }

    dim_time ||--o{ fact_rentals : "date_key"
    dim_cmhc_zone ||--o{ fact_rentals : "zone_key"
    dim_neighbourhood ||--o{ fact_census : "neighbourhood_id"
    dim_neighbourhood ||--o{ fact_crime : "neighbourhood_id"
    dim_neighbourhood ||--o{ fact_amenities : "neighbourhood_id"
    dim_cmhc_zone ||--o{ bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood : "zone_code"
    dim_neighbourhood ||--o{ bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood : "neighbourhood_id"

Schema Layers

Raw Schema

Raw data is loaded directly from external sources without transformation:

Table	Source	Description
raw.neighbourhoods	City of Toronto API	GeoJSON neighbourhood boundaries
raw.census_profiles	City of Toronto API	Census profile data
raw.crime_data	Toronto Police API	Crime statistics by neighbourhood
raw.cmhc_rentals	CMHC Data Files	Rental market survey data

Staging Schema (dbt)

Staging models provide 1:1 cleaned representations of source data:

Model	Source Table	Purpose
stg_toronto__neighbourhoods	raw.neighbourhoods	Cleaned boundaries with standardized names
stg_toronto__census	raw.census_profiles	Typed census metrics
stg_cmhc__rentals	raw.cmhc_rentals	Validated rental data
stg_toronto__crime	raw.crime_data	Standardized crime categories
stg_toronto__amenities	raw.amenities	Typed amenity counts
stg_dimensions__time	generated	Time dimension
stg_dimensions__cmhc_zones	raw.cmhc_zones	CMHC zone boundaries
stg_cmhc__zone_crosswalk	raw.crosswalk	Zone-neighbourhood mapping

Marts Schema (dbt)

Analytical tables ready for dashboard consumption:

Model	Grain	Purpose
mart_neighbourhood_overview	neighbourhood	Composite livability scores
mart_neighbourhood_housing	neighbourhood	Housing and rent metrics
mart_neighbourhood_safety	neighbourhood × year	Crime rate calculations
mart_neighbourhood_demographics	neighbourhood	Income, age, population metrics
mart_neighbourhood_amenities	neighbourhood	Amenity accessibility scores
mart_toronto_rentals	zone × month	Time-series rental analysis

Table Details

Dimension Tables

dim_time

Time dimension for date-based analysis. Grain: one row per month.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
date_key	INTEGER	PK	Surrogate key (YYYYMM format)
full_date	DATE	UNIQUE, NOT NULL	First day of month
year	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Calendar year
month	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Month number (1-12)
quarter	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Quarter (1-4)
month_name	VARCHAR(20)	NOT NULL	Month name
is_month_start	BOOLEAN	DEFAULT TRUE	Always true (monthly grain)

dim_cmhc_zone

CMHC rental market zones (~20 zones covering Toronto).

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
zone_key	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
zone_code	VARCHAR(10)	UNIQUE, NOT NULL	CMHC zone identifier
zone_name	VARCHAR(100)	NOT NULL	Zone display name
geometry	GEOMETRY(POLYGON)	SRID 4326	PostGIS zone boundary

dim_neighbourhood

Toronto's 158 official neighbourhoods.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
neighbourhood_id	INTEGER	PK	City-assigned ID
name	VARCHAR(100)	NOT NULL	Neighbourhood name
geometry	GEOMETRY(POLYGON)	SRID 4326	PostGIS boundary
population	INTEGER		Total population
land_area_sqkm	NUMERIC(10,4)		Area in km²
pop_density_per_sqkm	NUMERIC(10,2)		Population density
pct_bachelors_or_higher	NUMERIC(5,2)		Education rate
median_household_income	NUMERIC(12,2)		Median income
pct_owner_occupied	NUMERIC(5,2)		Owner occupancy rate
pct_renter_occupied	NUMERIC(5,2)		Renter occupancy rate
census_year	INTEGER	DEFAULT 2021	Census reference year

dim_policy_event

Policy events for time-series annotation (rent control, interest rates, etc.).

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
event_id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
event_date	DATE	NOT NULL	Announcement date
effective_date	DATE		Implementation date
level	VARCHAR(20)	NOT NULL	federal/provincial/municipal
category	VARCHAR(20)	NOT NULL	monetary/tax/regulatory/supply/economic
title	VARCHAR(200)	NOT NULL	Event title
description	TEXT		Detailed description
expected_direction	VARCHAR(10)	NOT NULL	bearish/bullish/neutral
source_url	VARCHAR(500)		Reference link
confidence	VARCHAR(10)	DEFAULT 'medium'	high/medium/low

Fact Tables

fact_rentals

CMHC rental market survey data. Grain: zone × bedroom type × survey date.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
date_key	INTEGER	FK → dim_time	Survey date reference
zone_key	INTEGER	FK → dim_cmhc_zone	CMHC zone reference
bedroom_type	VARCHAR(20)	NOT NULL	bachelor/1-bed/2-bed/3+bed/total
universe	INTEGER		Total rental units
avg_rent	NUMERIC(10,2)		Average rent
median_rent	NUMERIC(10,2)		Median rent
vacancy_rate	NUMERIC(5,2)		Vacancy percentage
availability_rate	NUMERIC(5,2)		Availability percentage
turnover_rate	NUMERIC(5,2)		Turnover percentage
rent_change_pct	NUMERIC(5,2)		Year-over-year change
reliability_code	VARCHAR(2)		CMHC data quality code

fact_census

Census statistics. Grain: neighbourhood × census year.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
neighbourhood_id	INTEGER	FK → dim_neighbourhood	Neighbourhood reference
census_year	INTEGER	NOT NULL	2016, 2021, etc.
population	INTEGER		Total population
population_density	NUMERIC(10,2)		People per km²
median_household_income	NUMERIC(12,2)		Median income
average_household_income	NUMERIC(12,2)		Average income
unemployment_rate	NUMERIC(5,2)		Unemployment %
pct_bachelors_or_higher	NUMERIC(5,2)		Education rate
pct_owner_occupied	NUMERIC(5,2)		Owner rate
pct_renter_occupied	NUMERIC(5,2)		Renter rate
median_age	NUMERIC(5,2)		Median resident age
average_dwelling_value	NUMERIC(12,2)		Average home value

fact_crime

Crime statistics. Grain: neighbourhood × year × crime type.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
neighbourhood_id	INTEGER	FK → dim_neighbourhood	Neighbourhood reference
year	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Calendar year
crime_type	VARCHAR(50)	NOT NULL	Crime category
count	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Number of incidents
rate_per_100k	NUMERIC(10,2)		Rate per 100k population

fact_amenities

Amenity counts. Grain: neighbourhood × amenity type × year.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
neighbourhood_id	INTEGER	FK → dim_neighbourhood	Neighbourhood reference
amenity_type	VARCHAR(50)	NOT NULL	parks/schools/transit/etc.
count	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Number of amenities
year	INTEGER	NOT NULL	Reference year

Bridge Tables

bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood

Maps CMHC zones to neighbourhoods with area-based weights for data disaggregation.

Column	Type	Constraints	Description
id	INTEGER	PK, AUTO	Surrogate key
cmhc_zone_code	VARCHAR(10)	FK → dim_cmhc_zone	Zone reference
neighbourhood_id	INTEGER	FK → dim_neighbourhood	Neighbourhood reference
weight	NUMERIC(5,4)	NOT NULL	Proportional weight (0-1)

Indexes

Table	Index	Columns	Purpose
fact_rentals	ix_fact_rentals_date_zone	date_key, zone_key	Time-series queries
fact_census	ix_fact_census_neighbourhood_year	neighbourhood_id, census_year	Census lookups
fact_crime	ix_fact_crime_neighbourhood_year	neighbourhood_id, year	Crime trends
fact_crime	ix_fact_crime_type	crime_type	Crime filtering
fact_amenities	ix_fact_amenities_neighbourhood_year	neighbourhood_id, year	Amenity queries
fact_amenities	ix_fact_amenities_type	amenity_type	Amenity filtering
bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood	ix_bridge_cmhc_zone	cmhc_zone_code	Zone lookups
bridge_cmhc_neighbourhood	ix_bridge_neighbourhood	neighbourhood_id	Neighbourhood lookups

PostGIS Extensions

The database requires PostGIS for geospatial operations:

CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS postgis;

All geometry columns use SRID 4326 (WGS84) for compatibility with web mapping libraries.