Transcript Will Triple Stores Replace Relational Databases?

Presented by Gentre Dozier and Spencer Dille
http://www.informationmanagement.com/newsletters/database_metadata_unstructured_data_triple_store10020158-1.html
What is a Triplestore?
 A triplestore is designed for storing information in
many short pieces called triples.
 Each triple represents a subject-predicate-object
relationship and is stored in a graph based model.
 RDF (Resource Description Framework) is an abstract
model in which a triple is encoded.
 Take this example statement: “Grass is the color green.”
How would you store this information in a triple?
 Here the Subject is ‘Grass’
 The Predicate is ‘is the color’ (think of this as a Column)
 The Object is ‘Green’
Do Triplestores offer an advantage
over RDMS?
 No need to create schemas.
 No need to link tables because you can have one to
many relationships directly.
 Can create new Predicates (again, think columns) on
the fly.
 You can also run queries off of this data, just like in a
relational database model.
Standardization
 There are several standards for triple stores proposed
on the W3 Consortium: RDF, RDFS, OWL, and
SPARQL.
 In order to gain large scale acceptance, standardization
is critical. Standardization is what made SQL popular.
Unstructured Data
 Unstructured data is becoming more and more
common. (email, spreadsheet, etc.)
 How do we best handle unstructured data? Relational
databases are not the answer.
 So do you use XML or RDF?
 XML is not as flexible as RDF in dealing with graphs.
Need for standardized metadata
 Metadata helps describe the content of data files.
 This is extremely important when you are talking
about unstructured data.
 Creating a standard will help push forward the use of
triple stores
 Google recently purchased the biggest RDF-based
encyclopedia on the Web and formally announced that
it will use RDF embedded in Web pages. Yahoo and
Microsoft are also following in their footsteps.
Summary
 The author believes that triple stores offer more
flexibility and is more powerful to write complex
queries.
 In the short term Relational Databases and Triple
Stores will live side by side.
 Many companies are already using Triple Stores on top
of their existing relational databases.