Altova Semantic Web Tools

Altova application development and data management tools let you learn and work with Semantic Web technologies using intuitive, visual design views and intelligent editing features.

Find out more about Semantic Web technologies and how Altova tools can simplify and accelerate the editing of your RDF and OWL documents by following the links below.

Since its inception, the World Wide Web has changed the way we communicate, the way we do business, the way we seek information and entertainment – the very way most of us live our daily lives. Today, the W3C is looking towards the next evolution in Web technologies: the Semantic Web. In the Semantic Web data itself becomes part of the Web and is able to be processed independently of application, platform, or domain. Where the current Web is a collection of documents, the Semantic Web is more like a huge database, in which data on Web pages as well as in databases and legacy systems can be searched, processed, and acted on by machines in meaningful ways.

The Semantic Web relies on structured sets of metadata and inference rules that allow it to “understand” the relationship between different data resources. The technologies that form the basis of the Semantic Web by adding these metadata and inference rules are RDF (Resource Description Framework), RDFS (RDF Schema) and OWL (Web Ontology Language).

RDF, RDFS, and OWL are further described below. For a complete overview of the Semantic Web and its related technologies, check out “What is the Semantic Web?”

Visual RDF Development

RDF (Resource Description Framework) is an XML-based standard for describing resources that exist on the Web, intranets, and extranets. RDF builds on existing XML and URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) technologies, using a URI to identify every resource, and using URIs to make statements about resources. RDF statements describe a resource, the resource’s properties, and the values of those properties and are often referred to as “triples.” RDF triples consist of a subject, predicate, and object, which correspond to a resource (subject), property (predicate), and property value (object). Humans often depict RDF triples in a graphical manner, but to be processed by machines, triples must be coded in RDF/XML or N-triples format.

Altova SemanticWorks® 2008 is a tool that allows you to visually define and edit RDF triples. With full syntax and semantics checking and intelligent entry helpers, SemanticWorks® 2008 makes it easy to learn and work with RDF. And, as you’re creating your visual RDF design, SemanticWorks automatically builds the corresponding RDF/XML or N-triples code behind the scenes. You can export your design from RDF/XML to N-triples or vice versa at any time.

Visual RDFS Development

While RDF provides the model and syntax for describing resources, it by itself does not define the meaning of those resources. That’s where other technologies such as RDFS and OWL come in.

RDFS (RDF Schema) defines vocabularies of RDF resources within a particular domain. For example, separate RDFS vocabularies could be created to describe anything from books to Internet standards to ice cream flavors and beyond. RDFS defines the allowable properties that can be used by RDF instances in a given domain and specifies the classes that each resource belongs to. Used together, RDF and RDFS are read by machines, which can then make logical deductions and actions based on the relationships between resources.

SemanticWorks provides powerful support for visual RDFS creation and editing. As with RDF editing, support for syntax and semantics checking and context-sensitive entry helpers allows you to create valid RDFS documents quickly and easily. SemanticWorks displays the instances, properties, and classes in an RDFS vocabulary on separate tabs, allowing you to view and edit these different items with ease.

You can click over to the text view at any time to see the auto-generated RDF/XML or N-triples code, and you can export your document in either format.

Visual OWL Development

Building upon RFDS is OWL (Web Ontology Language), which is a much richer, more expressive vocabulary for defining Semantic Web ontologies. Ontologies indicate the hierarchies and relationships that exist between different resources within a specific domain. When RDF resource descriptions are associated with an ontology defined somewhere on the Web, intranet, or extranet, it’s possible for machines to retrieve the relevant semantic information to find, present, and act on data in meaningful ways.

OWL has three sub languages, each with increasing complexity: OWL Lite, OWL DL, and OWL Full, and the choice of dialect depends on the complexity and level of detail required by your semantic model.

SemanticWorks supports all three OWL dialects in addition to full support for RDF and RDFS. Using SemanticWorks, you can visually create complex OWL ontologies, using intelligent entry helpers, intuitive icons, tabs for organizing different ontology components, as well as many other intuitive features. And, since SemanticWorks autogenerates the RDF/XML or N-triples code that corresponds to your design, building Semantic Web ontologies is as easy as plotting them out on a whiteboard.

Put the Semantic Web to work for you today – download a free 30-day trial of SemanticWorks® 2008 to get started working with RDF, RDFS, and OWL.

Need help learning about the Semantic Web?

SemanticWorks includes example RDF, RDFS, and OWL files, and the help file contains an informative tutorial to get you started learning these Semantic Web technologies quickly and easily. These files and tutorial are all included in the SemanticWorks® 2008 free trial download.