The new RDB2RDF Incubator Group is now official. The group is sponsored by Oracle, HP, PartnersHealth, and OpenLink Software.

Goals

The goal of this effort is standardization of approaches (syntax and methodology) for mapping Relational Data Model instance data to RDF (Graph Data Model).

Benefits

Every record in a relational table/view/stored procedure (Table Valued Functions/Procedures) is declaratively morphed into an Entity (instance of a Class associated with a Schema/Ontology). The derived entities become part of a graph that exposes relationships and relationship traversal paths that have lower JOIN Costs than attempting the same thing directly via SQL. In a nutshell, you end up with a conceptual interface atop a logical data layer that enables a much more productive mechanism for exploring homogeneous and/or heterogeneous data without confinement at the DB instance, SQL DBMS type, host operating system, local area network, or wide area network levels.

Just as we have to mesh the Linked Data and Document Webs, unobtrusively. It's also important that the same principles to apply to exposure of RDBMS hosted data as RDF based Linked Data.

We all know that a large amount of data driving the IT engines of most enterprises resides in Relational Databases. And contrary to recent RDBMS vs RDF database misunderstandings espoused (hopefully inadvertently) by some commentators, Relational Database engines aren't going away anytime soon. Meshing Relational (logical) and Graph (conceptual) data models a natural progression along an evolutionary path towards: Analysis for All. By the way, there is a parallel evolution occurring in others realms such as Microsoft's ADO.NET's Entity Framework.

How would I use RDB2RDF Mapping?

To Unobtrusively expose existing data sources as RDF Linked Data. The links that follow provide examples:

Related

  1. Virtuoso's Meta Schema Language for Declaratively generating RDF Views of SQL Data (Presentation, White Paper, Tutorial, and Online Docs)
  2. ESW Wiki's Collection of SQL-RDF Mapping Tools
  3. What the Semantic Web means for your Business