1. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS1 TMSync Topic map-to-topic map updates Lars Marius Garshol CTO, Ontopia TMRA 2006 2006-10-11

2. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS2 Agenda Background –the problem –why TMSync is the solution TMSync in detail –what it is –how it works Applications –what you can do with TMSync Conclusion

3. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS3 Background The problem Solving it with TMSync

4. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS4 The problem Topic Maps hold out a promise as a great technology for data integration –because of merging, global identifiers, etc However, dynamic sources are poorly supported at the moment –that is, converting once is easy, but staying in sync is hard A solution that only supports static integration is near-worthless –in practice, integrated data is nearly always going to need updating from the source –building a one-time conversion is easy –building data integration with update support is hard –so, suddenly data integration with Topic Maps isn’t so easy, after all

5. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS5 Merging is not the solution Merging in Topic Maps is often thought of in terms of –this is only useful if you are working from XTM files – only has an effect when the XTM file is loaded –after that, the only way to use the is to reload from scratch –reloading from scratch loses all changes... Real applications are based on databases –here has no effect

6. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS6 What TMSync is A simple way to update part of one topic map with part of another –define which part of the target topic map you want, –define which part of the source topic map it is the master for, and –the algorithm does the rest

7. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS7 If the source is not a topic map Simply do a normal one-time conversion –let TMSync do the update for you In other words, TMSync reduces the update problem to a conversion problem source.xml convert.xslt TMSync

8. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS8 TMSync in depth What it is How it works

9. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS9 TMSync in mathematical terms A function that given –a target topic map, –a source topic map, –a topic selector for the target map (a function), –a characteristic selector for the target map (a function), –a topic selector for the source map (a function), –a characteristic selector for the source map (a function), produces an updated target map

10. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS10 Mathematical specification Currently based on the Q model[1] –mainly because this was the only model in existence when I started working Will translate to the TMRM –since this is better-known, and now has a TMDM mapping [1] Q: A Model for Topic Maps, http://www.ontopia.net/topicmaps/materials/quads.html

11. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS11 The selection process name occurrence

12. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS12 The update process name occurrence NAME name occurrence bar occurrence NAME bar

13. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS13 How to configure the algorithm How to specify the topics –use a query –this gives great flexibility, while keeping the algorithm simple –it also means that we can efficiently find the set of topics to work on How to specify the characteristics –use a query, again, or –use a set of types, or –...

14. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS14 What the algorithm does For each topic in the sync’ed fragment –remove all sync’ed characteristics not in the source except associations to non-sync’ed topics –add all characteristics in the source that are not in the target –leave the rest alone Remove and add topics in the same way

15. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS15 Applications City of Bergen US Publisher

16. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS16 The City of Bergen LivsIT Service UnitPerson City of Bergen LivsIT Norge.no

17. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS17 City of Bergen configuration On the source side –query to get all instances of “category” and “keyword” –accept all characteristics On the target side –query to get all instances of “category” and “keyword” except those with mark-as-local associations –accept all characteristics except local search name and mark-as-local

18. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS18 Nameless US publisher Use an automated process to classify documents –documents get reclassified now and then –output of process is an XTM document If documents did not get reclassified, import would be enough –as it is, they use TMSync classified.xtm TMSync

19. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS19 Conclusion Related work Further work

20. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS20 Related work RDFSync –algorithm to synchronize two RDF graphs efficiently –no business case focus TM-Views –one possible way to define fragments for update TMRAP –uses TMSync for the update-topic request

21. http://www.ontopia.net/© 2006 Ontopia AS21 Further work Reformulate algorithm to TMRM instead of Q –this will be done in the paper submitted to the proceedings Improve algorithm to handle delta sets –that is, to only need information about what has changed since last in the source –this should not be very difficult –may do this for the final paper