Re: Range of values

At 09:16 AM 7/5/01 -0400, rdf@oleary.demon.nl wrote:
>Excuse a beginners question:
>
>I want to use RDF on the web site (escies.org) which carries data on 
>electronic
>components.  We are currently redesigning the search engine to allow 
>parametric search,
>e.g. transistor with power rating between 1 and 2 watts.
>
>Can RDF be used to describe a range of values such as this?

It certainly can, but there's not yet any standard way to do this that I'm 
aware of.

A simple approach would be to have properties like Power_low and 
Power_high, but that means two new properties for every range-valued attribute.

Another way, which seems to be consistent with the intent of RDF design, is 
to have a range value represented by a resource, with separate properties 
for the low and high values;  it might look something like this:

    <rdf:Description about="http://example.org/Component/Transistor/xyzzy">
      <ex:power>
        <rdf:Description>
          <range:lo>1</range:lo>
          <range:hi>2</range:hi>
        </rdf:Description>
      </ex:power>
    </rdf:Description>

Many variations are possible, but if your solution fits within the general 
RDF framework it should be reasonably easy to process with standard RDF tools.

#g


------------
Graham Klyne
GK@NineByNine.org