RE: comparing XML and RDF data models

Hi Tim,

> One of the great strengths of SQL/RDBMS is *views*. These shield users
> (SQL queries) from changes in the underlying schema. I think this would
> have a particular application and relevance in the XML/RDF world,
> because views could shield users from the complexity and immovability of
> namespaces. IMO there is a strong case for storing XML/RDF data with no
> namespaces, and add namespace information in views. 
> 
> I expect this has already been thought of - are there any
> implementations out there?

We have proposed a view mechanism for RDF based on SPARQL called
Networked Graphs in [1]. An implementation is available at [2].
We do not shield users from namespaces. This could be possible using a
SPARQL extension with variable bindings to results of filter functions,
which we propose in [3]

Best regards,
Simon

[1] Schenk, Simon and Staab, Steffen.
Networked Graphs: A Declarative Mechanism for SPARQL Rules, SPARQL Views
and RDF Data Integration on the Web. In:
Proceedings of the 17th International World Wide Web Conference,
WWW2008, Bejing, China. 2008.
online:
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~sschenk/publications/2008/Schenk2008WWW.pdf
[2]
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/FB4/Institutes/IFI/AGStaab/Research/NetworkedGraphs
[3] Schenk, Simon. A SPARQL Semantics Based on Datalog. In: 
Proceedings of KI2007, 30th German Conference on Artificial
Intelligence. Springer. 2007.
online:
http://www.uni-koblenz.de/~sschenk/publications/2007/KI2007SparqlSemantics.pdf