Improving the usability of standard schemas

Abstract

Due to the development of XML and other data models such as OWL and RDF, sharing data is an increasingly common task since these data models allow simple syntactic translation of data between applications. However, in order for data to be shared semantically, there must be a way to ensure that concepts are the same. One approach is to employ commonly used schemas -called standard schemas -which help guarantee that syntactically identical objects have semantically similar meanings. As a result of the spread of data sharing, there has been widespread adoption of standard schemas in a broad range of disciplines and for a wide variety of applications within a very short period of time. However, standard schemas are still in their infancy and have not yet matured or been thoroughly evaluated. It is imperative that the data management research community takes a closer look at how well these standard schemas have fared in real-world applications to identify not only their advantages, but also the operational challenges that real users face.In this paper, we both examine the usability of standard schemas in a comparison that spans multiple disciplines, and describe our first step at resolving some of these issues in our Semantic Modeling System. We evaluate our Semantic Modeling System through a careful case study of the use of standard schemas in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction, which we conducted with domain experts. We discuss how our Semantic Modeling System can help the broader problem and also discuss a number of challenges that still remain.

The Semantic Automated Discovery and Integration (SADI) Web service Design-Pattern, API and Reference Implementation

“…Bring into this complexity the number of different aspects of our target domain that need to be represented (Strömbäck et al found 85 different schemas within the sub-domain of systems biology alone[ 35 ]), and there is immediately a requirement for either schema standardization, or schema mapping to facilitate interoperability. Schema standardization is "prohibitively time-consuming" [ 36 ], and though there have been numerous attempts to automate schema mapping - that is, the ability for two schema to exchange data, as would be required to automate the interaction between arbitrary Web services - none have proven reliable in an open-Web situation [ 37 ]. Automated Schema mapping is likely an AI-complete problem since it requires the mapping of arbitrarily chosen natural-language labels (XML tags) to one another based on the semantics of either the tag or its child-content.…”

Online event-based conservation documentation: A case study from the IIC website

“…Conservation is not the only field where this problem occurs. Recent reports from civil engineering and architecture such as by Zhang et al [2011] are based on the fact that common schemas across a domain are not possible. Similar reports were published earlier in the cultural heritage sector (e.g.…”

BIM extension for the sustainability appraisal of conceptual steel design

“…Even with the evolution of BIM, embodying parametric objects governed by rules of geometry, attributes and relations; this vision is yet to be fully realized. The inclusion and accessibility of other design information such as cost estimation, selection of construction methods, construction scheduling, productivity analysis and project management associated with various construction practitioners still need tackling [8].…”