Ontology-Based Query Processing for Global Information Systems
Eduardo Mena, Arantza IllarramendiBooks.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
Today we are witnessing an exponential growth of information accumulated within universities, corporations, and government organizations. Autonomous repositories that store different types of digital data in multiple formats are becoming available for use on the fast-evolving global information systems infrastructure. More concretely, with the World Wide Web and related internetworking technologies, there has been an explosion in the types, availability, and volume of data accessible to a global information system. However, this information overload makes it nearly impossible for users to be aware of the locations, organization or structures, query languages, and semantics of the information in various repositories.
Available browsing and navigation tools assist users in locating information resources on the Internet. However, there is a real need to complement current browsing and keyword-based techniques with concept-based approaches. An important next step should be to support queries that do not contain information describing location or manipulation of relevant resources.
Ontology-Based Query Processing for Global Information Systems describes an initiative for enhancing query processing in a global information system. The following are some of the relevant features:
- Providing semantic descriptions of data repositories using ontologies;
- Dealing with different vocabularies so that users are not forced to use a common one;
- Defining a strategy that permits the incremental enrichment of answers by visiting new ontologies;
- Managing imprecise answers and estimations of the incurred loss of information.
Ontology-Based Query Processing for Global Information Systems is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate-level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.
Synopsis
Today we are witnessing an exponential growth of information accumulated within universities, corporations, and government organizations. Autonomous repositories that store different types of digital data in multiple formats are becoming available for use on the fast-evolving global information systems infrastructure. More concretely, with the World Wide Web and related internetworking technologies, there has been an explosion in the types, availability, and volume of data accessible to a global information system. However, this information overload makes it nearly impossible for users to be aware of the locations, organization or structures, query languages, and semantics of the information in various repositories.
Available browsing and navigation tools assist users in locating information resources on the Internet. However, there is a real need to complement current browsing and keyword-based techniques with concept-based approaches. An important next step should be to support queries that do not contain information describing location or manipulation of relevant resources.
Ontology-Based Query Processing for Global Information Systems describes an initiative for enhancing query processing in a global information system. The following are some of the relevant features:
- Providing semantic descriptions of data repositories using ontologies;
- Dealing with different vocabularies so that users are not forced to use a common one;
- Defining a strategy that permits the incremental enrichment of answers by visiting new ontologies;
- Managing imprecise answers and estimations of the incurred loss of information.
Ontology-Based Query Processing for Global Information Systems is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate-level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.
Booknews
Mena (U. of Zaragoza, Spain) and Illarramendi (U. of the Basque Country, Spain) explain a form of information processing in which users are allowed to query a global information system without being aware of the site, structure, query language, and semantics of the data repositories that store the relevant data for a given query. The discuss three main aspects: the use metadata for capturing the information content of the repositories; the mappings that exist among the intensional metadata descriptions and the underlying data repositories; and the use of different semantics associated with each repository. After providing a basic description of their proposed architecture, separate chapters are devoted to a more detailed examination of each step in the querying process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Editorials
Mena (U. of Zaragoza, Spain) and Illarramendi (U. of the Basque Country, Spain) explain a form of information processing in which users are allowed to query a global information system without being aware of the site, structure, query language, and semantics of the data repositories that store the relevant data for a given query. The discuss three main aspects: the use metadata for capturing the information content of the repositories; the mappings that exist among the intensional metadata descriptions and the underlying data repositories; and the use of different semantics associated with each repository. After providing a basic description of their proposed architecture, separate chapters are devoted to a more detailed examination of each step in the querying process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)