Will Triple Stores Replace Relational Databases? Presented by Gentre Dozier and Spencer Dille http://www.information-management.com/newsletters/database_metad ata_unstructured_data_triple_store-10020158-1.html
Presented by Gentre Dozier and Spencer Dille management.com/newsletters/database_metadata_unstructured_data_triple_store- 10020158-1.html
Presented by Gentre Dozier and Spencer Dille
http://www.information-
management.com/newsletters/database_metadata_unstructured_data_triple_store-
10020158-1.html
Slide 3
What is a Triplestore? A triplestore is designed for storing
information in many short pieces called triples. Each triple
represents a subject-predicate-object relationship and is stored in
a graph based model. RDF (Resource Description Framework) is an
abstract model in which a triple is encoded. Take this example
statement: Grass is the color green. How would you store this
information in a triple? Here the Subject is Grass The Predicate is
is the color (think of this as a Column) The Object is Green
Slide 4
Do Triplestores offer an advantage over RDMS? No need to create
schemas. No need to link tables because you can have one to many
relationships directly. Can create new Predicates (again, think
columns) on the fly. You can also run queries off of this data,
just like in a relational database model.
Slide 5
Standardization There are several standards for triple stores
proposed on the W3 Consortium: RDF, RDFS, OWL, and SPARQL. In order
to gain large scale acceptance, standardization is critical.
Standardization is what made SQL popular.
Slide 6
Unstructured Data Unstructured data is becoming more and more
common. (email, spreadsheet, etc.) How do we best handle
unstructured data? Relational databases are not the answer. So do
you use XML or RDF? XML is not as flexible as RDF in dealing with
graphs.
Slide 7
Need for standardized metadata Metadata helps describe the
content of data files. This is extremely important when you are
talking about unstructured data. Creating a standard will help push
forward the use of triple stores Google recently purchased the
biggest RDF-based encyclopedia on the Web and formally announced
that it will use RDF embedded in Web pages. Yahoo and Microsoft are
also following in their footsteps.
Slide 8
Summary The author believes that triple stores offer more
flexibility and is more powerful to write complex queries. In the
short term Relational Databases and Triple Stores will live side by
side. Many companies are already using Triple Stores on top of
their existing relational databases.
