Re: From Open Database Connectivity to Open Data Connectivity

On 3/30/12 5:08 PM, Barry Norton wrote:
>
> Kingsley, I like this line of argument. When I try to imagine myself 
> back in 1995 discovering ODBC (versus 4GL's against specific, if 
> SQLable, databases), I think I could have grokked a lot of the Linked 
> Data arguments from this comparison.
>
> I like specifically this 'superkeys' bit.
>
> What I find is a little lacking, though, is the idea of a lot of those 
> keys already existing (in open datasets). I don't think I would get 
> that from:
> "Web data (e.g., data from DBpedia) added to the mix" and
> "using the Virtuoso ODBC driver against public services such as 
> URIBurner"

It means that using the Virtuoso ODBC driver for Mac OS X, Windows, 
Linux, etc.. You can execute SPARQL queries that have a Linked Data URI 
in the FROM clause. Net effect, is what looks like a normal SQL 
resultset. You go even further, if you use use a DESCRIBE statement, and 
even further using CONSTRUCT. I have an HTML5-WebDB application that 
leverages the ODBC bridge [1][2] we built that demonstrates all of this. 
It simply requires you to install a browser plugin and then you are set 
to go via the SQL channel we've opened up on our demo server.

As for the URIBurner aspect, we have close to 100 cartridges/drivers for 
a plethora of existing Web Services and data formats. URIBurner is just 
a public instance of our Linked Data middleware, everything you see 
there can happen behind your own domain. The key thing is that every Web 
resource is query-able via SPARQL and the results structure enable you 
join with other data sources such as those exposed via ODBC DSNs.

>
> I'd like to see something like "saves you from having to re-invent keys".

Linked Data does just that.

What I didn't go into (deliberately) in the post is the ability to build 
Linked Data views over relational data sources using R2RML [3].
>
> Just a quick first impression.

Thanks for the feedback.

More examples to come re. joining data across the Web via ODBC 
connections that carry SPARQL query payloads while return data in native 
tabular form etc..

Links:

1. 
http://wikis.openlinksw.com/dataspace/owiki/wiki/UdaWikiWeb/InstallConfigODBCHTML5Bridge 
- HTML5 WebDB to ODBC Bridge

2. http://wikis.openlinksw.com/UdaWikiWeb/HTML5XMLAExplorerSampleProg -- 
Database Explorer that lets you work with ODBC DSNs on our live demo 
server (the database qualifiers are obvious so you can easily navigate 
to remote tables from Oracle, Informix, Sybase, Progress etc.. in all 
cases we've attached their respective demo databases)

3. http://www.w3.org/TR/r2rml/ - R2RML mapping language

4. http://goo.gl/GMTtC -- post covering Linked Data Views (these are 
created using R2RML or our own native mapping language) and the 
applicability to enterprise linked data exploitation.

Kingsley

>
> Barry
>
>
> On 30/03/2012 21:47, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
>> All,
>>
>> I've written a detailed post [1] about the timelessly important issue 
>> of Open Data Access as it relates to Linked Data. I've responded to 
>> snippets from a video [2] produced by one of our data access 
>> middleware competitors turned co-opetitor [3].
>>
>> Linked Data is best sold to the enterprise as an improvement over 
>> ODBC. Basically, an improvement that takes them from Open Database 
>> Connectivity to Open Data Connectivity, courtesy of Web ubiquity.
>>
>> To the enterprise customer, an HTTP URI is a powerful Data Source 
>> Name (DSN) mechanism. Its also a Super Key delivery mechanism since 
>> all keys actually resolve to records that are intensional 
>> (description oriented propositions in 3-tuple form).
>>
>> What I outline above is a "deceptively simple" value proposition that 
>> any enterprise customer will comprehend, naturally.
>>
>> Links:
>>
>> 1. http://goo.gl/1dO33 -- Is Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) Dead?
>> 2. http://youtu.be/kxjxlo5yTVk -- Video in full .
>> 3. http://dbpedia.org/page/Coopetition -- Coopetition explained .
>>
>
>
>


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder&  CEO
OpenLink Software
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