RDF Schemata
(with apologies to the W3C, the plural is not ‘schemas’)
What is the RDF Schema
Specification?
• Specifies how to use RDF to describe RDF
vocabularies.
• Defines a basic vocabulary.
• Defines an extensibility mechanism in
anticipation of additions to RDF.
Current Status
• Resource Description Framework
(RDF) Schema Specification 1.0
– W3C Candidate Recommendation 27 March
2000
– [Link]
RDF Review
The Formal Model
There is a set called Resources.
There is a set called Literals.
There is a subset of Resources called Properties.
There is a set called Statements, each element of which is
a triple of the form
{pred, sub, obj}
Where pred is a property (member of Properties), sub is
a resource (member of Resources), and obj is either a
resource or a literal (member of Literals).
So we can describe things like:
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="[Link]
xmlns:s="[Link]
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<s:Creator>
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<rdf:type resource="[Link]
<v:Name>Ora Lassila</v:Name>
<v:Email>lassila@[Link]</v:Email>
</rdf:Description>
</s:Creator>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
What RDF Does
• This is nice, because it gives a mechanism
for associating semantics with documents in
a generally readable manner.
• But…
Semantic information isn’t that useful without
being structured so that it can be consistently
interpreted.
If we don’t use schemata,
many representations are possible
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="[Link]
xmlns:rdf="[Link] />/>
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<author>
<Creator>
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<rdf:Description about="[Link]
<rdf:type resource="[Link]
<rdf:type resource="[Link]
<name>
<Name>Ora Lassila</Name>
<surname>Lassila</surname>
<Email>lassila@[Link]<Email>
<given>Ora</given>
</rdf:Description>
</name>
</Creator>
<email>lassila@[Link]</email>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:Description>
</author>
</rdf:RDF>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
Not another schema scheme?
• Why another schema definition?
Can’t we just use DTDs or XML Schema?
Not another schema scheme?
• Why another schema definition?
Can’t we just use DTDs or XML Schema?
DTD and XML Schema definitions –
– only define syntax.
– don’t have the power to describe things like
class membership in a robust manner.
– Don’t refer to things outside of XML.
RDFS Class Hierarchy
rdfs:Literal rdfs:Resource rdfs:label
s t
t
t t s s
t t rdfs:comment
rdfs:Class
rdf:property t
t rdfs:isDefinedBy
s t t
rdfs:ConstraintResource
t rdf:type t rdfs:seeAlso
rdfs:ConstraintProperty
t rdfs:subClassOf
t t t s
rdfs:range rdfs:domain rdfs:subPropertyOf
s = rdfs:subClassOf
rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty t = rdf:type
Core Classes - rdfs:Resource
• Things described by RDF expressions are
called resources, and are considered to be
instances of the class rdfs:Resource. The
RDF class rdfs:Resource represents the set
called 'Resources' in the formal model.
Core Classes - rdf:Property
• This represents the subset of RDF resources
that are properties, i.e., all the elements of
the set called 'Properties' the formal model.
Core Classes - rdfs:Class
• This corresponds to the generic concept of a Type
or Category, similar to the notion of a Class in
object-oriented programming languages such as
Java. When a schema defines a new class, the
resource representing that class must have an
rdf:type property whose value is the resource
rdfs:Class. RDF classes can be defined to
represent almost anything, such as Web pages,
people, document types, databases or abstract
concepts.
The Core Properties
Every RDF model which uses the schema
mechanism also (implicitly) includes the
core properties. These are instances of the
rdf:Property class and provide a mechanism
for expressing relationships between classes
and their instances or superclasses.
Core Properties - rdf:type
This indicates that a resource is a member of a class, and
thus has all the characteristics that are to be expected of a
member of that class. The value of an rdf:type property
for some resource is another resource which must be an
instance of rdfs:Class. The resource known as rdfs:Class
is itself a resource of rdf:type rdfs:Class. Individual
classes (for example, 'Dog') will always have an rdf:type
property whose value is rdfs:Class (or some subclass of
rdfs:Class, as described in section 2.3.2). A resource may
be an instance of more than one class.
Core Properties - rdfs:subClassOf
• This specifies a subset/superset relation between classes.
The rdfs:subClassOf property is transitive. If class A is a
subclass of some broader class B, and B is a subclass of
C, then A is also implicitly a subclass of C.
• Only instances of rdfs:Class can have the
rdfs:subClassOf property and the property value is
always of rdf:type rdfs:Class. A class may be a subclass
of more than one class.
• A class cannot be a subclass of itself, nor of any of its
own subclasses.
Core Properties - rdfs:subPropertyOf
• This instance of rdf:Property specifies that one
property is a specialization of another. A property
may be a specialization of zero, one or more
properties. If some property P2 is a subPropertyOf
another more general property P1, and if a
resource A has a P2 property with a value B, this
implies that the resource A also has a P1 property
with value B.
• A property can never be declared to be a
subproperty of itself, nor of any of its own
subproperties.
Core Properties - rdfs:seeAlso
• This specifies a resource that might provide
additional information about the subject resource.
• This property may be specialized using
rdfs:subPropertyOf to more precisely indicate the
nature of the information the object resource has
about the subject resource.
• The object and the subject resources are
constrained only to be instances of the class
rdfs:Resource.
Core Properties - rdfs:isDefinedBy
• This is a subproperty of rdfs:seeAlso, and
indicates the resource defining the subject
resource.
• As with rdf:seeAlso, this property can be
applied to any instance of rdfs:Resource
and may have as its value any
rdfs:Resource.
Constraints -rdfs:ConstraintResource
• This resource defines a subclass of rdfs:Resource
whose instances are RDF schema constructs
involved in the expression of constraints. This
provides a mechanism that allows RDF processors
to assess their ability to use the constraint
information associated with an RDF model.
• The 1.0 specification doesn’t provide a
mechanism for the dynamic discovery of new
forms of constraint.
Constraints - rdfs:ConstraintProperty
• This resource defines a subclass of rdf:Property,
all of whose instances are properties used to
specify constraints.
• This class is a subclass of rdfs:ConstraintResource
and corresponds to the subset of that class
representing properties.
• Both rdfs:domain and rdfs:range are instances of
rdfs:ConstraintProperty.
Constraints - rdfs:range
• An instance of ConstraintProperty that is used to
indicate the class(es) that the values of a property
must be members of. The value of a range
property is always a Class. Range constraints are
only applied to properties.
• A property can have at most one range property. It
is possible for it to have no range, in which case
the class of the property value is unconstrained.
Constraints - rdfs:domain
• This is an instance of ConstraintProperty that is
used to indicate the class(es) on whose members a
property can be used.
• If a property has no domain property, it may be
used with any resource. If it has exactly one
domain property, it may only be used on instances
of that class (which is the value of the domain
property). If it has more than one domain property,
the constrained property can be used with
instances of any of those classes.
Constraints on ranges and domains
– The rdfs:domain of rdfs:range is the class rdf:Property.
This indicates that the range property applies to
resources that are themselves properties.
– The rdfs:range of rdfs:range is the class rdfs:Class. This
indicates that any resource that is the value of a range
property will be a class.
– The rdfs:domain of rdfs:domain is the class
rdf:Property. This indicates that the domain property is
used on resources that are properties.
– The rdfs:range of rdfs:domain is the class rdfs:Class.
This indicates that any resource that is the value of a
domain property will be a class.
Documentation Tags
These support simple documentation and user-
interface related annotations. Multilingual
documentation of schemas is supported at the
syntactic level through use of the xml:lang tagging
facility.
rdfs:comment
– This is used to provide a human-readable description of
a resource.
rdfs:label
– This is used to provide a human-readable version of a
resource name.
Container Membership
rdfs:ContainerMembershipProperty
– This class has as members the properties _1,
_2, _3 ... used to indicate container
membership, as described in the formal model.
Other Things
rdfs:Literal - This corresponds to the set called the
'Literals' in the formal model.
rdf:Statement - This corresponds to the set called the
'Statement' in the formal model.
rdf:subject - This corresponds to the property called the
'subject' in the formal model. Its rdfs:domain is
rdf:Statement and rdfs:range is rdfs:Resource.
rdf:predicate - This corresponds to the property called the
'predicate' in the formal model. Its rdfs:domain is
rdf:Statement and rdfs:range is rdf:Property. This is
used to identify the property used in the modeled
statement.
Other Things
rdfs:Container - This class is used to represent the
Container classes described in the model. It is an
instance of rdfs:Class and rdfs:subClassOf of
rdfs:Resource.
rdf:Bag - This corresponds to the class called 'Bag' in the
formal model. It is an instance of rdfs:Class and
rdfs:subClassOf rdfs:Container.
rdf:Seq - This corresponds to the class called 'Sequence'
in the formal model. It is an instance of rdfs:Class and
rdfs:subClassOf rdfs:Container.
rdf:Alt - This corresponds to the class called 'Alternative'
in the formal model. It is an instance of rdfs:Class and
rdfs:subClassOf rdfs:Container.
Other Things
rdf:object - This corresponds to the property
called the 'object' in the formal model. Its
rdfs:domain is rdf:Statement. This is used to
identify the property value in the modeled
statement
rdf:value - This corresponds to the 'value'
property described in the specification.
Example
<rdf:RDF xml:lang="en"
xmlns:rdf="[Link]
xmlns:rdfs="[Link]
<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Person">
<rdfs:comment>The class of people.</rdfs:comment>
<rdfs:subClassOf
rdf:resource="[Link]
</rdfs:Class>
<rdf:Property ID="maritalStatus">
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="#MaritalStatus"/>
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Person"/>
</rdf:Property>
Example
(continued)
<rdf:Property ID="ssn">
<rdfs:comment>Social Security Number</rdfs:comment>
<rdfs:range
rdf:resource="[Link]
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Person"/>
</rdf:Property>
<rdf:Property ID="age">
<rdfs:range
rdf:resource="[Link]
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Person"/>
</rdf:Property>
Example
(continued)
<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="MaritalStatus"/>
<MaritalStatus rdf:ID="Married"/>
<MaritalStatus rdf:ID="Divorced"/>
<MaritalStatus rdf:ID="Single"/>
<MaritalStatus rdf:ID="Widowed"/>
</rdf:RDF>
References
• Resource Description Framework (RDF) Schema
Specification 1.0: [Link]
• Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and
Syntax Specification:
[Link]
• Expressing Simple Dublin Core in RDF/XML:
[Link]
(note that this does not use an RDF Schema).