A formal model for RDF dataset constraints
Solbrig H., Prud'Hommeaux E., Chute CG., Davies J.
Linked Data has forged new ground in developing easy-to-use, distributed databases. The prevalence of this data has enabled a new genre of social and scientific applications. At the same time, Semantic Web technology has failed to significantly displace SQL or XML in industrial applications, in part because it offers no equivalent schema publication and enforcement mechanisms to ensure data consistency. The RDF community has recognized the need for a formal mechanism to publish verifiable assertions about the structure and content of RDF Graphs, RDF Datasets and related resources. We propose a formal model that could serve as a foundation for describing the various types invariants, pre- and post-conditions for RDF datasets and then demonstrate how the model can be used to analyze selected example constraints. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.