Search Engine, Semantic Web, RDF, Resource Description Framework, Semantic Web Search, RDF Search, RSS, FOAF, RDFS, OWL, RSS Search, FOAF Search

A Search Engine for the Semantic Web (BETA)

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Semantic Web Search?
What is the Semantic Web?
How do I use this site?
How do I write an intelligent agent that uses this service?
My RDF data doesn't seem to be indexed. How do I add it?
How do I put my data on the semantic web?
How is Semantic Web Seach implemented?
Who operates this service?
What is RDF Gateway?
What is RDFQL?
How do I install an agent on my computer?
Is this service free?

How can I get some additional help?

What is Semantic Web Search?

Semantic Web Search is a search engine for the Semantic Web. Our site can be used by both people and computers to precisely locate and gather information published on the Semantic Web.

For people our Web site provides a standard search engine interface that has been extended to allow people to precisely describe the information they are trying to find. On a traditional Web search engine you might search for information about a person by using the keywords 'John' and 'Smith'. This search may produce results ranging from biblical passages to iron working techniques that you must then sift through. Our site allows you to specifically search for persons (foaf:Person) that have a first name (foaf:firstName) of 'John' and a last name (foaf:surname) of 'Smith'. You could then go on to perform another search to locate news articles (rss:item) that were authored by (dc:creator) that same person. We accomplish this by allowing you to describe your search using the well-defined vocabulary terms (dc:creator, foaf:Person, ...) used on the Semantic Web. Only information that exactly matches your search is returned in our results.

For computers, our site provides a web service with similar capabilities. Intelligent software agents submit precise queries to our service describing the information they need to perform a task. Our service returns to them only the information that exactly matches their request in a form that they can understand.

What is the Semantic Web?

The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web that allows the meaning of information to be precisely described in terms of well-defined vocabularies that are understood by people and computers. On the Semantic Web information is described using a new W3C standard called the Resource Description Framework (RDF). RDF is based on the popular Extensible Markup Language (XML). RDF provides a mechanism to precisely describe the meaning of information thereby greatly enhancing XML's strong data typing and interchange capabilities. RDF allows people, places, and things (resources) to be described and referenced using Web addresses (URLs). Information on one Web site can then reference information on another creating a vast distributed database on the current Web. All of this RDF data that is published on the Web is collectively referred to as the Semantic Web.

How do I use this site?

Its simple, using our standard search engine interface you can just type one or more of keywords describing the information you are trying to locate. This is no more complicated than a traditional Web search engine. However like a traditional Web search engine this can lead to a large number of irrelevant results. To narrow your search you can restrict it to the specific type of resource that you are trying to locate such as a person (FOAF Person) or news article (RSS Item). If your search is still producing a large number of irrelevant results than you can refine it further by specifying one or more specific property values that the resource must have. For example if you are trying to locate a person with a last name of 'Smith' and a first name of 'John' you would enter the search string '[foaf:surname]~smith [foaf:firstName]~john'. You should refer to the Search Help page for the complete details on the search string format. Although the best place for you to start creating powerful Semantic Web searches is with our on-line Search Agent.

How do I write an intelligent software agent that uses this service?

You'll need a framework such as RDF Gateway that understands RDF to write an intelligent software agent that uses our service. We offer several sample agents written as RDF Gateway applications. You can get details on how to access Semantic Web Search through a simple web service interface here.

For a high level overview of the role of Semantic Web Search in enabling the growth of intelligent software agents on the Semantic Web read our white paper.

My RDF data doesn't seem to be indexed. How do I add it?

You can submit a url to be crawled using our url submission page.

How do I put my data on the semantic web?

If it's just a small amount of data - for example, a foaf file - you might just create it by hand (or with a helper application) and place it in a web accessible location. For larger amounts of data, you may want to generate the RDF programatically (e.g. from a product database or document metadata repository) using a RDF platform that supports web protocols such as RDF Gateway.

How is Semantic Web Search implemented?

All of Semantic Web Search, including this web site, is implemented using multiple RDF Gateway applications ( crawlers, document repositories, indexers, query coordinators, and web site ) that are distributed on our corporate computing grid. All the features we needed to build Semantic Web Search are in RDF Gateway.

Who operates this service?

Semantic Web Search in owned and operated by Intellidimension Inc. ( www.intellidimension.com ).

What is RDF Gateway?

RDF Gateway is a platform for Semantic Web applications and agents. It is a both a web server and a web agent with a powerful native RDF database engine that makes it ideal for gathering and publishing rich information on the Internet. Applications and agents are written in an easy-to-use scripting language, based on JavaScript and SQL, that can be embedding right into web documents. RDF Gateway can be used for both desktop and server applications, as a matter of fact, this entire web site and service is implemented using it. RDF Gateway is a standalone plaform that requires no third party applications making it easy to deploy. If you are interested in trying out RDF Gateway, Intellidimension provides a Personal Edition that is free for non-commercial use and/or product evaluation. The complete product description, on-line documentation, and download of RDF Gateway Personal Edition can be found at www.intellidimension.com.

What is RDFQL?

RDFQL is the language used by RDF Gateway applications and agents. It is scripting language that expands on JavaScript to include a powerful SQL-like command language for querying RDF data models. Agents that submit queries to our service use a subset of RDFQL to describe the information they need. This subset is call the query condition and it is processed by our service to find documents on the Internet containing the exact information described by it. It is through our use of RDFQL that our service can provide agents with precise and accurate searches of the Internet. If you are interested in learning more about RDFQL you should refer to the complete RDFQL documentation that can be found at www.intellidimension.com.

How do I install an agent on my computer?

Well if the agent is written for RDF Gateway then you just need to follow these few simple steps. If the agent uses some other platform then you need to contact the agent's author or vendor for installation instructions.

Is this service free?

Yes, we are interested in promoting the growth of the Semantic Web and we feel open access to Semantic Web Search plays an important role in achieving that goal.