Abstract

MapVOWL is visual notation for Linked Data mappings. It specifies the ambiguous visualization primitives to represent mapping rules to users. Furthermore, it specifies how interaction with the mapping rules is done through the visualization.

Status of This Document

This document is merely a public working draft of a potential specification. It has no official standing of any kind and does not represent the support or consensus of any standards organisation.

1. Introduction

This section is non-normative.

Linked Data [LINKED-DATA] is a way to create a network of standards-based machine interpretable data across different documents and Web sites. It allows an application to start at one piece of Linked Data, and follow embedded links to other pieces of Linked Data that are hosted on different sites across the Web.

In most cases Linked Data is generated based on existing data. Mapping languages, through rules, allow users to define how this is done, such as R2RML [R2RML] and RML [RML]. Vinoma offers a visualization to define these rules.

2. Terminology

2.1 General

resource
A resource is something in the world (the "universe of discourse"). Anything can be a resource, including physical things, documents, abstract concepts, numbers and strings.
referent
The resource denoted by an IRI is called its referent.
blank node
It is sometimes handy to be able to talk about resources without bothering to use a global identifier, such as done for referents. This can be achieved by using a blank node.
literal value
The resource denoted by a literal is called its literal value. Examples are the name of a person, the VAT number of a company and so on.
relationship
Relationships between referents, blank nodes and literal values can be expressed. This is indicated by a predicate, which is an IRI and denotes a property.
input data source
An input data source is source of data that is used to generate Linked Data.
value type
A value types of referents and literal values describe how the their values are generated. There are two possibles value types: templated data extract and constant.
templated data extract
This value type means that you copy the data from the input data source and that you optionally can perform a transformation on it. For example, you can add a prefix to a identifier in order to generate URIs. How the template is defined can be found here.
constant
This value type means that you do not use data from an input data source and you provide a constant value.
schema
A schema is either a vocabulary or an ontology. There is no clear division between what is referred to as 'vocabularies' and 'ontologies'. The trend is to use the word 'ontology' for more complex, and possibly quite formal collection of terms, whereas 'vocabulary' is used when such strict formalism is not necessarily used or only in a very loose sense. Vocabularies are the basic building blocks for inference techniques on the Semantic Web [W3C-ONT].
class
Both an referents and an literal values can have a type. In the case of an referent we use the term class. For example, we state that the class of an referent is a 'Person' (using foaf:Person) if the input data source describes employees. Note that an referent can have zero or more types.
datatype
Both an referents and an literal values can have a type. In the case of an literal value we use the term datatype. For example, we state that the datatype of an literal value is a String (using xsd:string) if the literal value represents the name of an employee. Note that a literal value can at most have one type.
path
Hierarchical structured data, such as XML and JSON files, makes use of paths to refer to data fractions.

2.2 Visualization

node
A node is a visual representation of either a referent, blank node or literal value.
link
An link is a line connecting two nodes. It represents the relationship between (1) two referents, (2) two blank nodes, (3) one referent/blank node and one literal value or (4) one referent and one blank node.
graph
A graph is a collection of nodes and links.

3. Grpahical Primitives

The graphical primitives are used to define the mapping rules.

Name Primitive Description
circle
  • referent
dashed circle
  • blank node
rectangle
  • literal value
  • relationship label
line
  • relationship
arrowhead
  • relationship direction
text text textual information about mapping definitions

4. Colors

First, the different types of colors are defined. Next, the different color schemas are defined in terms of the types.

4.1 General

Abstract Color Name Concrete Color Recommendation Description Application
canvas #ffffff white Bright color with a good contrast to all other colors. canvas where are all other graph elements are shown on
foreground #000000 black Very dark color with a good contrast to all other colors. border of elements and edges
base color see next table Every data source has its own base color, unique for every source. fill color of the graph elements that use data from that specific data source.
highlight see next table For each element coming from a source, and property, the highlight color is a darker shade of the base color of that source or property. fill color of the graph elements when selected

4.2 Color Schemas

Input Data Source Color Schema Name Base Color Highlight
Scheme #1 #6d9eeb #1155cc
Scheme #2 #f6b26b #b45f06
Scheme #3 #93c47d #38761d
Scheme #4 #c27ba0 #741b47
Scheme #5 #ffd966 #bf9000
Scheme #6 #76a5af #134f5c
Scheme #7 #8e7cc3 #351c75
Scheme #8 #e06666 #981c1c
blank node #ffffff #b7b7b7
no input data source #ffffff #b7b7b7

5. Mapping Rules

First, we elaborate on how the mapping rules are visualized. Next, we elaborate on what is not shown through the visualizations.

5.1 Visualization

Mapping rules are constructed using the visualization primitives.

Visualization Mapping Rule
literal values with datatype
literal values with language
blank node with class
referent, with class, has relationship with literal value
referent has relationship with another referent

6. Interaction

Interaction elements are added to the graphs in order to allow updates of the mapping rules. These elements are only shown when the user hovers over the graph element.

Interaction Element Application Action
show details Bring up window where details of mapping rule can be edited.
add relationship Link appears and is dragged to corresponding target of relationship.
delete node/link Deletes the correpsonding mapping rule.
collapse subgraph Collapses the connected subgraphs of a node.
expand subgraph Expands the connected subgraphs of a node.

A. References

A.1 Informative references

[LINKED-DATA]
Tim Berners-Lee. W3C. Linked Data Design Issues. 27 July 2006. W3C-Internal Document. URL: https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
[R2RML]
R2RML. URL: https://www.w3.org/TR/r2rml/
[RML]
RML. URL: http://rml.io/spec.html
[W3C-ONT]
W3C. Ontologies. URL: https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/ontology