Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Foundations of RDF Databases

  • Chapter
Reasoning Web. Semantic Technologies for Information Systems (Reasoning Web 2009)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5689))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to give an overview of the basics of the theory of RDF databases. We provide a formal definition of RDF that includes the features that distinguish this model from other graph data models. We then move into the fundamental issue of querying RDF data. We start by considering the RDF query language SPARQL, which is a W3C Recommendation since January 2008. We provide an algebraic syntax and a compositional semantics for this language, study the complexity of the evaluation problem for different fragments of SPARQL, and consider the problem of optimizing the evaluation of SPARQL queries, showing that a natural fragment of this language has some good properties in this respect. We furthermore study the expressive power of SPARQL, by comparing it with some well-known query languages such as relational algebra. We conclude by considering the issue of querying RDF data in the presence of RDFS vocabulary. In particular, we present a recently proposed extension of SPARQL with navigational capabilities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Abiteboul, S., Hull, R., Vianu, V.: Foundations of Databases. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1995)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Alechina, N., Immerman, N.: Reachability Logic: An Efficient Fragment of Transitive Closure Logic. Logic Journal of the IGPL 8(3), 325–338 (2000)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Alkhateeb, F.: Querying RDF(S) with Regular Expressions. PhD Thesis, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, FR (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Alkhateeb, F., Baget, J., Euzenat, J.: RDF with regular expressions. Research Report 6191, INRIA (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Alkhateeb, F., Baget, J., Euzenat, J.: Constrained regular expressions in SPARQL. In: SWWS 2008, pp. 91–99 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Angles, R., Gutierrez, C.: Survey of graph database models. ACM Comput. Surv. 40(1), 1–39 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Angles, R., Gutierrez, C.: The Expressive Power of SPARQL. In: Sheth, A.P., Staab, S., Dean, M., Paolucci, M., Maynard, D., Finin, T., Thirunarayan, K. (eds.) ISWC 2008. LNCS, vol. 5318, pp. 114–129. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Anyanwu, K., Maduko, A., Sheth, A.: SPARQ2L: Towards Support for Subgraph Extraction Queries in RDF Databases. In: WWW 2007, pp. 797–806 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C., Parsia, B., Pérez, J., Polleres, A., Seaborne, A.: SPARQL - Where are we? Current state, theory and practice. Unit-2: SPARQL Formalization. In: Tutorial given at ESWC 2007, Innsbruck, Austria (2007), http://axel.deri.ie/~axepol/sparqltutorial/

  10. Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C., Pérez, J.: An Extension of SPARQL for RDFS. In: Christophides, V., Collard, M., Gutierrez, C. (eds.) SWDB-ODBIS 2007. LNCS, vol. 5005, pp. 1–20. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Brickley, D., Guha, R.V.: RDF Vocabulary Description Language 1.0: RDF Schema. W3C Recommendation (February 2004), http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/

  12. Benedikt, M., Koch, C.: XPath leashed. ACM Computing Surveys 41(1) (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Broekstra, J., Kampman, A., van Harmelen, F.: Sesame: A generic architecture for storing and querying RDF and RDF schema. In: Horrocks, I., Hendler, J. (eds.) ISWC 2002. LNCS, vol. 2342, pp. 54–68. Springer, Heidelberg (2002)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. Calvanese, D., De Giacomo, G., Lenzerini, M., Vardi, M.Y.: Rewriting of Regular Expressions and Regular Path Queries. J. Comput. Syst. Sci (JCSS) 64(3), 443–465 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  15. Carroll, J.J., Bizer, C., Hayes, P., Stickler, P.: Named graphs. Journal of Web Semantics 3, 247–267 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Chandra, A.K., Merlin, P.M.: Optimal Implementation of Conjunctive Queries in Relational Data Bases. In: STOC 1977, pp. 77–90 (1977)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Clark, J., DeRose, S.: XML Path Language (XPath). W3C Recommendation (November 1999), http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath

  18. Clarke, E., Grumberg, O., Peled, D.: Model Checking. The MIT Press, Cambridge (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Cormen, T., Leiserson, C., Rivest, R., Stein, C.: Introduction to Algorithms. McGraw-Hill, New York (2003)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  20. Cyganiak, R.: A relational algebra for SPARQL. Tech. Rep. HPL-2005-170, HP-Labs (2005), http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2005/HPL-2005-170.html

  21. Galindo-Legaria, C.A., Rosenthal, A.: Outerjoin simplification and reordering for query optimization. TODS 22(1), 43–73 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Garey, M.R., Johnson, D.S.: Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. W.H. Freeman, New York (1979)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  23. Gutierrez, C., Hurtado, C., Mendelzon, A.: Foundations of Semantic Web Databases. In: PODS 2004, pp. 95–106 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Harel, D., Kozen, D., Tiuryn, J.: Dynamic Logic. MIT Press, Cambridge (2000)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Harris, S., Gibbins, N.: 3store: Efficient bulk RDF storage. In: PSSS 2003, pp. 1–15 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Hayes, J., Gutierrez, C.: Bipartite Graphs as Intermediate Model for RDF. In: McIlraith, S.A., Plexousakis, D., van Harmelen, F. (eds.) ISWC 2004. LNCS, vol. 3298, pp. 47–61. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  27. Hayes, P.: RDF Semantics. W3C Recommendation (February 2004), http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/

  28. Hopcroft, J.E., Motwani, R., Ullman, J.D.: Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation. Addison Wesley, Reading (2006)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  29. Imielinski, T., Lipski Jr., W.: Incomplete Information in Relational Databases. J. ACM 31(4), 761–791 (1984)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  30. Karvounarakis, G., Alexaki, S., Christophides, V., Plexousakis, D., Scholl, M.: RQL: a declarative query language for RDF. In: WWW 2002, pp. 592–603 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Kochut, K.J., Janik, M.: SPARQLeR: Extended Sparql for Semantic Association Discovery. In: Franconi, E., Kifer, M., May, W. (eds.) ESWC 2007. LNCS, vol. 4519, pp. 145–159. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  32. Lassila, O., Swick, R.: Resource description framework (RDF) model and syntax specification W3C Recommendation (February 1999), http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-rdf-syntax-19990222/

  33. Levene, M., Loizou, G.: A Guided Tour of Relational Databases and Beyond. Springer, Heidelberg (1999)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  34. Manola, F., Miller, E., McBride, B.: RDF Primer, W3C Recommendation (February 10 , 2004), http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/

  35. Marin, D.: RDF Formalization, Santiago de Chile, Technical Report Universidad de Chile, TR/DCC-2006-8 (2004), http://www.dcc.uchile.cl/~cgutierr/ftp/draltan.pdf

  36. Mendelzon, A., Wood, P.: Finding Regular Simple Paths in Graph Databases. SIAM J. Comput. 24(6), 1235–1258 (1995)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  37. Muñoz, S., Pérez, J., Gutierrez, C.: Minimal Deductive Systems for RDF. In: Franconi, E., Kifer, M., May, W. (eds.) ESWC 2007. LNCS, vol. 4519, pp. 53–67. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  38. Olson, M., Ogbuji, U.: The Versa Specification, http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/rdf/versa/etc/versa-1.0.xml

  39. ODP - Open Directory Project, http://www.dmoz.org/

  40. Pérez, J., Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C.: Semantics and Complexity of SPARQL. In: Cruz, I., Decker, S., Allemang, D., Preist, C., Schwabe, D., Mika, P., Uschold, M., Aroyo, L.M. (eds.) ISWC 2006. LNCS, vol. 4273, pp. 30–43. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  41. Pérez, J., Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C.: Semantics and Complexity of SPARQL (submitted for publication)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Pérez, J., Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C.: Semantics of SPARQL. Tech. Report Universidad de Chile, TR/DCC-2006-17 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Pérez, J., Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C.: nSPARQL: A Navigational Language for RDF. In: Sheth, A.P., Staab, S., Dean, M., Paolucci, M., Maynard, D., Finin, T., Thirunarayan, K. (eds.) ISWC 2008. LNCS, vol. 5318, pp. 66–81. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  44. Polleres, A.: From SPARQL to rules (and back). In: Proceedings of the 16th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW), pp. 787–796. ACM, New York (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  45. Prud’hommeaux, E., Seaborne, A.: SPARQL Query Language for RDF. W3C Recommendation (January 2008), http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-query/

  46. RDF Site Summary (RSS) 1.0, http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/

  47. Schmidt, M., Meier, M., Lausen, G.: Foundations of SPARQL Query Optimization. arXiv.org paper arXiv:0812.3788v1 (December 19, 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  48. The Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, http://dublincore.org/

  49. The Friend of a Friend (FOAF) project, http://www.foaf-project.org/

  50. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax, http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986

  51. Vardi, M.Y.: The Complexity of Relational Query Languages (Extended Abstract). In: STOC 1982, pp. 137–146 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  52. Zaniolo, C.: Database Relations with Null Values. J. Comput. Syst. Sci. 28(1), 142–166 (1984)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

    Marcelo Arenas & Jorge Pérez

  2. Department of Computer Science, Universidad de Chile, Chile

    Claudio Gutierrez

Authors
  1. Marcelo Arenas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Claudio Gutierrez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jorge Pérez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Free University of Bozen - Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani 3, 39100, Bolzano, Italy

    Sergio Tessaris

  2. Faculty of Computer Science, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani 3, I-39100, Bozen-Bolzano, BZ, Italy

    Enrico Franconi

  3. Institut für Informationssysteme, Technische Universität Wien, Favoritenstraße 9-11, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

    Thomas Eiter

  4. Depto. de Ciencias de la Computación, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2120, Santiago, Chile

    Claudio Gutierrez

  5. Digital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway

    Siegfried Handschuh

  6. University of Grenoble, LSR-IMAG, BP 72, 38402, St Martin d’Heres Cedex, France

    Marie-Christine Rousset

  7. School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Renate A. Schmidt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Arenas, M., Gutierrez, C., Pérez, J. (2009). Foundations of RDF Databases. In: Tessaris, S., et al. Reasoning Web. Semantic Technologies for Information Systems. Reasoning Web 2009. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5689. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03754-2_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03754-2_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-03753-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-03754-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation