2021/12/22 by Thomas Delva, Delva, Thomas, Anastasia Dimou +5
Computer Science · Decision Sciences · #Advanced Database Systems and Queries #Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI) #Databases (cs.DB) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Scientific Computing and Data Management #Semantic Web and Ontologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2112.11796
openalex publication_date 2021/12/22 · openalex created_date 2022/10/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In constraint languages for RDF graphs, such as ShEx and SHACL, constraints on nodes and their properties in RDF graphs are known as "shapes". Schemas in these languages list the various shapes that certain targeted nodes must satisfy for the graph to conform to the schema. Using SHACL, we propose in this paper a novel use of shapes, by which a set of shapes is used to extract a subgraph from an RDF graph, the so-called shape fragment. Our proposed mechanism fits in the framework of Linked Data Fragments. In this paper, (i) we define our extraction mechanism formally, building on recently proposed SHACL formalizations; (ii) we establish correctness properties, which relate shape fragments to notions of provenance for database queries; (iii) we compare shape fragments with SPARQL queries; (iv) we discuss implementation options; and (v) we present initial experiments demonstrating that shape fragments are a feasible new idea.