What is the difference between logical data model and conceptual data model?

Question

What is the difference between logical data model and conceptual data model?

Answer 1

Most answers here are strictly related to notations and syntax of the data models at different levels of abstraction. The key difference has not been mentioned by anyone. Conceptual models surface concepts. Concepts relate to other concepts in a different way that an Entity relates to another Entity at the Logical level of abstraction. Concepts are closer to Types. Usually at Conceptual level you display Types of things (this does not mean you must use the term "type" in your naming convention) and relationships between such types. Therefore, the existence of many-to-many relationships is not the rule but rather the consequence of the relationships between type-wise elements. In Logical Models Entities represent one instance of that thing in the real world. In Conceptual models it is not expected the description of an instance of an Entity and their relationships but rather the description of the "type" or "class" of that particular Entity. Examples: - Vehicles have Wheels and Wheels are used in Vehicles. At Conceptual level this is a many-to-many relationship - A particular Vehicle (a car by instance), with one specific registration number have 5 wheels and each particular wheel, each one with a serial number is related to only that particular car. At Logical level this is a one-to-many relationship.

Conceptual covers "types/classes". Logical covers "instances".

I would add another comment about databases. I agree with one of the colleagues who commented above that Conceptual and Logical models have absolutely nothing about databases. Conceptual and Logical models describe the real world from a data perspective using notations such as ER or UML. Database vendors, smartly, designed their products to follow the same philosophy used to logically model the World and them created Relational Databases, making everyone's lifes easier. You can describe your organisation's data landscape at all the levels using Conceptual and Logical model and never use a relational database.

Well I guess this is my 2 cents...