KRSMS Semantic Annotation Language

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KR/SMS Semantic Types

Datasets, actors (also known as services), and actor input and output ports are examples of resources that can have semantic types, that is, types that classify and constraint the semantic, as opposed to structural interpretation of resources. A semantic type may also describe how the semantic interpretation is "encoded" within a resource. For example, given a dataset that contains measurements of biomass for species sampled at certain locations, the "encoding" may state that a particular column denotes the biomass and that another column denotes the location of measurements.

We define a semantic type as a set of one or more semantic annotations. Generally speaking, a semantic annotation assigns some object (or set of objects) within a resource a meaning, where the "meaning" is specified via ontology expressions (that use terms from ontologies). A semantic annotation serves to "link" or "glue" a portion of a resource to a portion of an ontology.

A semantic type expressed in XML takes the following form:

<sms:SemanticType ID="...">

   <sms:Label name="..." resource="..."/>

   ...

   <sms:Annotation assign="..." meaning="..."/>

   ...

</sms:SemanticType>

Every semantic type should have a unique identifier, preferably expressed and managed as an LSID.

Labels

A resource can take one of the following three forms, depending its resource type (i.e., dataset, actor, or actor input/output port):

<sms:Dataset resource="..."/>

<sms:Actor resource="..."/>

<sms:ActorPort portName="..." resource="..."/>

The Dataset tag designates a dataset resource, whose resource identifier is given via the resource attribute. A dataset identifier is a unique identifier (e.g., an LSID) for the dataset, and we assume that the dataset identifier can be used (via additional tools) to retrieve the actual dataset. The Actor tag designates an actor resource and the resource attribute the unique identifier for the actor being reference. The ActorPort tag denotes a port of an actor. The portName attribute specifies the port for an actor identified via the resource attribute. A Resources element in an annotation must specify at least one resource subelement (either Dataset, Actor, or ActorPort). More than one resource subelement is permitted. For each subelement, the resource is attribute is required. In addition, for ActorPort elements, the portName attribute is required.

Annotations

Encodings define the "glue" or "links" between the resource(s) and the semantic type(s) and are optional. An encoding takes the form:

<sms:Link> ... </sms:Link>

The content of the Link element uses a specific textual language that we define briefly here.

Examples