R&Wbase : Git for triples

Abstract

Read/Write infrastructures are often predicted to be the next big challenge for Linked Data. In the domains of Open Data and cultural heritage, this is already an urgent need. They require the exchange of partial graphs, personalised views on data and a need for trust. A strong versioning model supported by provenance is therefore crucial. However, current triple stores handle storage rather naïvely and don not seem up for the challenge. In this paper, we introduce R&Wbase, a new approach build on the principles of distributed version control. Triples are stored in a quad-store as consecutive deltas, reducing the amount of stored triples drastically. We demonstrate an efficient technique for storing different deltas in a single graph, allowing simple resolving of different versions and separate access. Furthermore, provenance tracking is included at operation level, since each commit, storing a delta and its metadata, is described directly as provenance. The use of branching is supported, providing flexible custom views on the data. Finally, we provide a straightforward way for querying different versions through SPARQL, by using virtual graphs.