| IDEAL METADATA PROCESSING NOTES |
| ================================ |
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| High-level processing rules |
| --------------------------- |
| - Kept the original bldg_id values. |
| - Used best-effort geographic inference for latitude/longitude and climate-zone-related fields. |
| - Left many envelope, HVAC, and region-specific fields null because they could not be inferred with enough confidence from the available metadata. |
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|
| Column-by-column changes made |
| ----------------------------- |
| * build_existing_model.ashrae_iecc_climate_zone_2004 |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with '5A'. |
| - Assumption: Assumption: all homes are in Scotland and were mapped to ASHRAE zone 5A as the closest reference-compatible class. |
| * build_existing_model.ashrae_iecc_climate_zone_2004_2_a_split |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with '5A'. |
| - Assumption: Because the split only affects 2A in the reference file, zone 5A remains just '5A'. |
| * build_existing_model.building_america_climate_zone |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with 'Cold'. |
| - Assumption: Derived from the chosen 5A climate-zone mapping and the reference file's class system. |
| * build_existing_model.county_metro_status |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with 'Metropolitan'. |
| - Assumption: Best guess based on the listed UK towns/cities being in or near major population centers; uncertain at individual-home level. |
| * build_existing_model.doors |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with 'Fiberglass'. |
| - Assumption: Only class present in the reference file. |
| * build_existing_model.geometry_building_type_acs |
| - Change: Mapped 'Apartment' to 'Single-Family Attached'; kept 'Single-Family Detached' unchanged. |
| - Assumption: Best available reference-compatible class set only contained 'Single-Family Detached' and 'Single-Family Attached'. |
| * build_existing_model.geometry_floor_area |
| - Change: Converted numeric floor-area values into the reference category bins: 0-499, 500-749, 750-999, 1000-1499, 1500-1999, 2000-2499. |
| - Assumption: Assumption: source floor-area values were in square meters and were interpreted into reference-style floor-area classes (effectively ft²-equivalent bins). |
| * build_existing_model.geometry_floor_area_bin |
| - Change: Derived broader bins from the mapped floor-area classes: '0-1499' or '1500-2499'. |
| - Assumption: Based on the reference class hierarchy. |
| * build_existing_model.geometry_stories |
| - Change: Mapped values outside the reference class set into the nearest supported class; 4- and 5-story entries were collapsed to '3'. |
| - Assumption: Reference file only supports 1, 2, and 3 stories. |
| * build_existing_model.geometry_story_bin |
| - Change: Filled all rows with '<8'. |
| - Assumption: Only class present in the reference file. |
| * build_existing_model.heating_fuel |
| - Change: Kept 'Electricity'; set 'Natural Gas' and 'Other Fuel' to null. |
| - Assumption: Reference file only contained 'Electricity', so unsupported classes were nulled rather than forced incorrectly. |
| * build_existing_model.interior_shading |
| - Change: Filled all nulls with 'Summer = 0.7, Winter = 0.85'. |
| - Assumption: Only class present in the reference file. |
| * build_existing_model.neighbors |
| - Change: Filled values using reference-supported neighborhood classes, primarily '12' and 'Left/Right at 15ft'. |
| - Assumption: Best-guess mapping from dwelling form; detached homes were treated differently from apartment/attached-type homes. |
| * build_existing_model.vintage |
| - Change: Mapped IDEAL-era bands into reference-compatible vintages: '<1940', '1950s', '1970s', '1980s', '1990s', '2000s'. |
| - Assumption: Approximate decade mapping was used where exact class alignment did not exist. |
| * build_existing_model.vintage_acs |
| - Change: Mapped IDEAL-era bands into ACS-style bins: '<1940', '1940-59', '1960-79', '1980-99', '2000-09'. |
| - Assumption: Approximate interval mapping to the closest supported ACS-style class. |
| * build_existing_model.weather_file_city |
| - Change: Set all rows to null. |
| - Assumption: The source city names (Edinburgh, Penicuik, Livingston, North Berwick, Kirkcaldy) are not members of the reference weather-city class set, so they were not forced into unrelated US weather stations. |
| * build_existing_model.weather_file_latitude |
| - Change: Filled using inferred city coordinates. |
| - Assumption: Used location-level best guesses from the listed city/town names. |
| * build_existing_model.weather_file_longitude |
| - Change: Filled using inferred city coordinates. |
| - Assumption: Used location-level best guesses from the listed city/town names. |
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| Geographic assumptions used |
| --------------------------- |
| - Edinburgh: latitude 55.95, longitude -3.22 |
| - Penicuik: latitude 55.826, longitude -3.373 |
| - Livingston: latitude 55.8834, longitude -3.5157 |
| - North Berwick: latitude 56.058, longitude -2.717 |
| - Kirkcaldy: latitude 56.11073, longitude -3.16737 |
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| Nulls intentionally retained |
| -------------------------- |
| - Fields with insufficient evidence were left null rather than guessed. |
| - This especially applies to region-/program-specific or construction-detail fields such as PUMA, detailed insulation/assembly values, foundation/wall/roof specifics, and unsupported weather station labels. |
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| Important caveats |
| ----------------- |
| - The processed file is standardized to the reference class vocabulary, not necessarily to true real-world values for every home. |
| - Several mappings are approximate because the source dataset is UK-based while the reference class system is largely US-oriented. |
| - Floor-area and climate mappings should be reviewed if you want strict domain accuracy rather than training-set compatibility. |
| - Heating fuel was handled conservatively: unsupported fuels were set to null instead of coerced. |
