Finding sustainability data on the Web David Leal CAESAR Systems Limited

Using emerging technologies Identifying things by HTTP URIs –getting data about them by “dereferencing” Data as RDF statements –readable RDF as N3 –a little bit of formality from OWL The importance of standard RDF vocabularies –This is what will make it work –This is our task

About URIs a URI is just a string of characters –They are unique identifiers for things, which are used on the web –A thing can have more than one URI, but a URI identifies only one thing HTTP URI –formerly called a URL –The use of an HTTP URI implies that an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) access, e.g. from a browser, is valid –But you may be disappointed and get “error 404” – no answer was the stern reply a URN –A URI which does not imply any form of access –used by some organisations – e.g. ISO, ISBN –urn:iso:std:iso:15926:-2 The Web is based upon HTTP URIs – don’t worry about URNs

What a URI identifies a web page – –You can open it with your browser – data is downloaded –You can follow links to other web pages an object – –This is the organisation Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining –It has a Royal Charter – it cannot be downloaded to a browser a formula – –This is a computer interpretable file of RDF statements about the IoM3 –It can be process by Semantic Web browser or by an application Uniform Resource Identifier

Dereferencing a URI If the URI identifies a web page – you get it If the URI identifies an RDF formula – you get it It the URI identifies an object.... –The object could be the Eiffel Tower, or the Institute of Materials – neither can be downloaded to your browser –either you get nothing (error 404), or you are redirected to a “representation” “dereferencing” means attempting to get some data. You can only dereference an HTTP URI. access to is redirected to

Semantic Web technologies RDF (Resource Description Framework) –making statements on the Web – N3 (Notation 3) –a simple way of writing down an RDF statement – An opportunity to: record information more simply enable others to use our concepts use the concepts of others

Jane believes Getting started Janet John loves RDF diagram N3 :Janet :loves :John. :Jane :believes { }

Getting started people:Janet relationship:loves relationships:. namespaces identify the people identify the human relationships

….. or as XML <!DOCTYPE rdf:RDF [ ]> <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="&rdf;" xmlns:relationships="&relationships;"> no more precise – and not as readable

Clever browsers click to view the formula The IoM3 has not implemented this – yet

Clever browsers

Suppose you want a formula Usually redirection takes you to an HTML web page –This is good, because a person may need to know what a URI identifies – the web page can tell him or her If an application want the formula, then there are two options: –content negotiation – the HTTP protocol allows the GET request to specify the required format – RDF can be specified –link from the HTML file – this is hidden in the header and is used by applications when required

Suppose you want a formula link to the formula IOM3 - Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining <link rel="alternate" type="application/rdf+xml" title="RDF Representation" href=" />......

Suppose you want a formula dc:. a eng-sci:EngineeringInstitution ; dc:title "Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining" ; con:phone ; foaf:webpage. a eng-sci:Conference ; dc:title "Materials Congress Materials for the Future" ; tabont:isMentionedIn vocabulary about engineering organisations and events

An individual product item/ Ruian Zhuxin Machinery Co. Ltd. manufactured by type model/ML1800 – person readable nameplate – bar code – RFID specified as:

An individual product iso:. dereference to get a formula about the model rzm:item/ iso:manufacturedBy ; a rzm:model/ML1800.

A class of product packing. rzm:model/ML1800 iso:hasMass [ scale:kilogram 14000] ; packing:maximum_rule_length [ scale:metre 50 ] ; packing:speed [ scale:perMinute 16 ] ; packing:motorPower [ scale:kilowatt 11 ] ; who defines the vocabularies? – an ISO or IEC committee – a trade association The Ruian Zhuxin Machinery Co has not implemented this – yet – as far as I know

LCA data in the formula Each item of model ML1800 requires: –emissions of 25 kg CO2 to produce; –emissions of -4 kg CO2 to dispose (negative because recycling displaces mineral extraction); –emission of 0.001kg CO2 per hour to run (European electricity generation mix).

LCA data in the formula rzm:model/ML1800 lca:unitProductionCO2emission [ scale:kilogram 25 ] ; lca:unitDisposalCO2emission [ scale:kilogram -4 ] ; lca:hourUseCO2emission [ scale:kilogram ]. actually it is more complicated

Actually it is more complicated ML1800 flow 1 output flow manufacture of 1 ML1800 item reference output atmosphere CO 2 destination material substance 25 kg amount flow 2 SO 2 material substance 0.01 kg amount destination flow 3 output flow objects and relationships defined in ISO but not different in principle

Actually it is more complicated rxm:process/ML1800 lca:hasOutputFlow [ a lca:ReferenceFlow ; lca:destination lca:Technosphere ; lca:material [ lca:loadOf rxm:model/ML1800 ; lca:numberInLoad 1 ] ] ; lca:hasOutputFlow [ lca:destination lca:Atmosphere ; lca:Material [ a iupac:CarbonDioxide ; lca:amount [ scale:kilogram 25 ] ] ] ; lca:hasOutputFlow [ lca:destination lca:Atmosphere ; lca:Material [ a iupac:SulfurDioxide ; lca:amount [ scale:kilogram 0.01 ] ] ] ; vocabulary for LCA from ISO URI for substances from somewhere?

Making this work Material products have HTTP URIs –A new business process Dereferencing gives: –Web page of information about the product – Web 1.0 –RDF formula about the product – Web 3.0 Standard vocabularies to use in the formulae –Vocabularies for product properties –Vocabularies for LCA LCA data published using the same approach –Products have URIs, dereferencing give LCA data

Navigating the supply chain LCA catalogues (e.g. EU LCA InfoHub) linked to industrial catalogues class Aclass Bclass Cclass D product supply 1 supply 2 supply x supply y supply z subclass of LCA data from analysis of supply subclass of LCA data from analysis of supply

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