This document contains information relevant to xml topic maps and is part of the cover pages resource. Topic maps, owl and rdf its been quite a while since my last post. A topic map is a standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an. Creating enterprise web sites with topic maps and xslt. Leading open source topic maps engines are exposing their functionality in tmapi, implementations of a tmcl3. Using xml topic maps to build knowledge repositories.
Sparql queries to rdfs views of topic maps 3 disjunctions. The topic maps data model is the heart of the topic maps standards and is supported by several file formats, query languages and modeling languages. It is well and good to embrace standards for semantic content such as rdf or owl, but without mechanisms for standardly expressing schemas it is difficult. This note, dated feb 10, updates the previous version of one year ago. They can be used to generate navigation for a website, and for lots of other metadata tasks. Describes and compares the different attempts at rdf tm. Comparing topic maps and rdf posted in technology on 20070106 18. A comparative study of rdf and topic maps development tools. Topic maps were originally developed in the late 1990s as a way to represent backofthebook index structures so that multiple indexes from different sources could be merged. Topic maps is a standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an emphasis on the findability of information.
Topics covered include tutorials for using the xtm specification, topic maps for website information architecture, knowledge representation, ontological engineering, elearning, visualisation, relationship to rdf, information about various software implementations a bit dated now, but still valuable, as well as sample topic maps and xslt code. Mapping 1 defines a mapping where any topic map becomes available to rdf, but most rdf data will lead to sparse and uninformative topic maps. For a more indepth examination of the relationship between rdf and topic maps, see living with topic maps and rdf by lars marius garshol, to whom i am indebted for many of the ideas that are summarized here. My point written above is that rdf is essentially the facet part of the iso topic map standard, nothing more, a way to attach metadata to resources. In rdf one starts with information resources and attaches metadata structures to them. A survey of rdftopic maps interoperability proposals w3c working group note 10 february 2006, pepper, vitali, garshol, gessa, presutti eds. Topic maps family and rdf family xtm hytm ltm rdfxml n3 topic maps tmql tmcl rdf rdfs. Topic maps and rdf are two independently developed proposals for the representation, interchange, and exploitation of modelbased data on the web. Topic maps, rdf graphs, and ontologies visualization. A survey of rdf topic maps interoperability proposals w3c working group note 10 february 2006, pepper, vitali, garshol, gessa, presutti eds. A semantic web primer for objectoriented software developers w3c working group note 9 march 2006, knublauch, oberle, tetlow, wallace eds. Rdf and topic maps partially overlapped, but the general philosophy differed. A comparative study of rdf and topic maps development. The rdf topicmaps project explores subject navigation of web sites using semiautomatically generated finding aids.
Rdf is resourcecentric, whereas topic maps are subjectcentric. Rdf and topic maps are both identitybased technologies. Topic maps are a standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an emphasis on the findability of information. Mapping 2, roles as arcs this approach is that it does round trip well but it implies a topic map interpretation of rdf that doesnt follow the intentions of the roles ad types in rdf. Rdf software free download rdf top 4 download offers free software downloads for windows, mac, ios and android computers and mobile devices. Therefore, it is perfectly possible, and right, to represent the majority of rdf structures through the use of syntax for topic maps, and viceversa freese 2003. Topic maps article about topic maps by the free dictionary. The concept of types and subtypes, on the other hand, is regarded as being identical in topic maps and rdf except for the fact that the subclassof property is part of rdf schema rather than rdf. However, the developers quickly realized that with a little additional. Rdf software, software for the pest control industry. Things a thing in the real world s a symbol in the computer domain the heart of rdf and topic maps is the same.
Translating topic maps to rdfrdf schema for the semantic web journal of research and practice in information technology, vol. However, rdf and topic maps differs and suffers from the interoperability problem due to difference in their fundamental architectures, approaches, techniques, and. Since topic maps are a way of thinking about data structures, not a technology stack, they are rather timeless. This makes topic map data available to rdf but does not make common rdf availble to topic maps. The topic maps and rdf technology stacks are quite complex, and its not.
Other issues context topic maps have a concept of context that provides a way to identify an environment in which the association is valid. Rdf and topic map published subjects ontology remote access protocol query language i also apply those technologies to some domain. Topic maps is an international industry standard iso 250 for information management and interchange. Taxonomy and ontology software implementing rdf and the web ontology language owl, for example protege have been widely adopted. The w3c organization has just published an update on a survey of rdftopic maps interoperability proposals. A software system for viewing and querying automatically. Spcs is a valuable tool that will automate many of the time consuming tasks. Welcome to rdf software, home of the structural pest control system for windows. The topic maps and rdf technology stacks are quite complex, and its not easy to see how the various pieces compare. Topic maps are a standard for managing metadata somewhat similar to rdf. Topic maps family and rdf family xtm hytm ltm rdf xml n3 topic maps tmql tmcl rdf rdfs. Tim strehles blog topic maps as a standard are dead, im afraid. Survey of rdftm interoperability proposals, a w3c working draft.
Topic maps is all about findability and knowledge federation for humans. Topic maps are often described as a kind of superimposed semantic metadata layer for indexing often dispersed and heterogeneous information resources but topic maps may in fact realize a number of organization schemes ranging from simple taxonomies to semantically rich ontologies garshol, 2004. Jun 14, 2015 since topic maps are a way of thinking about data structures, not a technology stack, they are rather timeless. Many institutions are struggling to solve problems with their official web sites, but the contents constantly change, and. Survey of rdf tm interoperability proposals, a w3c working draft. Over the last 30 years spcs has evolved to become the most innovative and easy to use software package available for the pest control industry.
If we happen to implement a concept map engine on top of the xtm specification, those concept maps would be converted to topic maps, which will gain the ability to be shared, merged, and archived in a standard format for. Living with topic maps and rdf simon fraser university. The rtm vocabulary used to map rdf data to topic maps was developed based on the assumption that a generic rdf to topic maps conversion is not possible. This has mostly been due to spending a large amount of time playing with some topic map the ontopia omnigator and owl protege software. Living with topic maps and rdf, by lars marius garshol. Topic maps and the semantic web topic maps and all that. It is well and good to embrace standards for semantic content such as rdf or owl, but without mechanisms for standardly expressing schemas it is difficult to actually map and resolve. Topic maps and rdf are both emerging standards that already have considerable user communities.
The information represented in a topic map, expressed in one of the xml interchange syntaxes for topic maps, can, at some level of detail, be translated into information that is expressed in one of the xml interchange syntaxes for rdf information. Knowledge representation, ontological engineering, and topic maps. Many institutions are struggling to solve problems with their official web sites, but the contents constantly change, and the editors cant exercise sufficient control. The rtm vocabulary instead operates on the level of the individual ontology, requiring each ontology to declare how it maps to topic maps. In this way, mapping 1 is better as it makes rdf data available to topic maps, albeit generally in a limited form. Constructing web subject gateways using dublin core, the.
The principal objective in this public access knowledgebase is to promote and enable the use of open. Not going to details, but when hand crafting an rdf schema for the finnish museum of photography at that time there were no robust rdf modeling tools i learnt that creating an ontology for human users was very laborious. Topic maps are a form of semantic web technology similar to rdf. Rdf and topic maps based applications were developed to achieve the above goals and provide users the facility to create and manage semantic web technologies in a simple and flexible way. Luckily, theres still users and advocates of topic maps. Describes and compares the different attempts at rdftm. Rdf, topic maps, and the semantic web researchgate. This document contains information relevant to rdftopic maps and is part of the cover pages resource. My point written above is that rdf is essentially the facet part of the iso topic map standard, nothing more, a.
Rdf and topic maps interoperability ai3adaptive information. For an introduction to topic maps, see the wonderful article the tao of topic maps by steve pepper. The principal objective in this public access knowledgebase is to promote and. The cover pages is a comprehensive webaccessible reference collection supporting the sgmlxml family of meta markup language standards and their application. The paper also discusses the tools for automatically creating topic maps, with particular emphasis on how the synergies between topic maps and rdf can be exploited in the process of autogenerating topic maps from structured and semistructured source data. That is, thekey concept in both is symbols representing identifiable things,which statements can be made about. So in one sense rdf and topic maps have diametrically opposed points of view. They consist of the syntax for description, data model, restrictions language, query language, etc. However, the developers quickly realized that with a little additional generalization. In this paper we present a software framework to semi automatically generate a semantic representation of the knowledge of the networkshop conference series and. This is the first book about topic maps, and it also covers rdf. If the pmtm4 model is adopted for this purpose, the corresponding rdf arcs will never need to be reified, even the very first time someone needs to make an assertion about a buttering.
A topic map in a software system is usually managed using a topic maps engine. A topic map is a standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an emphasis on the findability of information. An rdf schema that translates the standard application model for topic maps into rdf with the one restriction that all locators must be uris. Sep 09, 2009 thesauri and lists of keywords are stored by dcx in its topic map a set of database tables modeled after the xml topic maps xtm 1. The wandora people who continue to work on a free java desktop. Perhaps most importantly, they have significantly different goals rdf and owl are positioned as enablers for largescale data integration andor an artificially intelligent web for software agents. Applications based on rdf and topic maps can store and organize knowledge in a better way and manage large repositories in an efficient manner. W3c semantic web best practices and deployment working group. May 18, 2006 the concept of types and subtypes, on the other hand, is regarded as being identical in topic maps and rdf except for the fact that the subclassof property is part of rdf schema rather than rdf. Therefore, as in the system in petrini 2008, the query processor uses rewriting techniques based on compile time evaluation jones, 1996 of query fragments, to reduce the size of the query. Steve peppers former company, ontopia, still offers open source topic maps software. A survey of rdftopic maps interoperability proposals. Rdf and topic maps applications can provide adaptive and customized views by analyzing the user current taskactivity. Comparing topic maps and rdf larsblog lars marius garshol.
The key difference is that the former is semantic, whereas the latter uses each standard as a tool for describing other models. Both rdf and topic maps consist of multiple standards. The presented work was motivated by the idea of creating a tool that allows effective reuse and integration of existing topic maps tm and. The pmtm4 model is an example of a model of the meaning of topic maps that can easily be translated into rdf once and for all topic maps. Steve pepper ontopia, august 2002 this document updates and supercedes topic maps and rdf. A comparison of the two models, a study of rdfs and owl applied to topic maps, a proposal for data conversion in both directions, and more. Furthermore, i consider an application framework as general application structure. My experiences with both rdf and topic maps fully support your analysis. Topic maps are a new standard since 2000 and are slowly becoming more popular. Tim strehles blog topic maps as a standard are dead, im. An rdf schema for topic maps by lars marius garshol.
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