RE: [egov] Representing polyhierarchical taxonomies in XML

["Paul Spencer" <paul.spencer@boynings.co.uk>]

Ann,

It's a thought, and one I'll bear in mind while I wait to hear if others
have a view. I know you were looking at DAML+OIL a while back. Is there a
reason you don't think that this is the best tool for the task? It is aimed
specifically at representing taxonomies.

I'll disagree with you about navigating the XML (but then I would, wouldn't
I?). I do it with stylesheets all the time for things like creating
documentation out of schema(s|ta) and XMI. Whether or not it was the
original intention, XPath does it pretty well.

Regards

Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ann Wrightson [mailto:ann.wrightson@csw.co.uk]
> Sent: 02 July 2004 12:21
> To: 'Paul Spencer'
> Cc: egov@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: RE: [egov] Representing polyhierarchical taxonomies in XML
>
>
> Paul,
>
> The best tool I know for this job is Topic Maps, since in a topic map any
> one topic can participate in any number of hierarchical
> classifications. You
> can also modularize cleanly by representing each hierarchy as a separate
> topic map & merging just the ones you want to use.
>
> Topic Maps have an XML encoding, however the XML is decoded into
> a different
> abstract structure for use (the latest published version of this
> specification is http://www.isotopicmaps.org/sam/sam-model/ -
> browse the UML
> models rather than the text for an overview). Standard query capabilities
> for topic maps are coming soon - there are already some pilot
> implementations of querying available in topic map products.
>
> IMO navigating the XML itself is a dead duck since XML does not (was never
> designed to) support this kind of thing (though it provides a neat syntax
> for representing some good ways of doing it). Jonathan Robie disagrees...
> but then he would, wouldn't he.
>
> Ann W.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Spencer [mailto:paul.spencer@boynings.co.uk]
> Sent: 02 July 2004 11:53
> To: e-Gov
> Subject: [egov] Representing polyhierarchical taxonomies in XML
>
> The UK e-GMS metadata standard is a polyhierarchical taxonomy* in which an
> item in the hierarchy can have more than one parent. What would people
> consider the best way to represent this in XML? One option is
> DAML+OIL, but
> I am not sure of the status of this and defer to those with greater
> knowledge of representing taxonomies in XML.
>
> My aim is to be able to navigate through the taxonomy, in particular, to
> find the parent(s) of a known taxonomy item. However, I am sure there are
> further applications in the taxonomy reconciliation work.
>
> * see
> http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/Tomatoes%20are%20not%20the%20o
nly%20frui
t%202002-12-19.doc

Regards

Paul Spencer
Director
Boynings Consulting Ltd
http://www.boynings.co.uk


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