Semantic Web Search Engine

Abstract

In this report, we discuss the architecture and implementation of the Semantic Web Search Engine (SWSE). Following traditional search engine architecture, SWSE consists of crawling, data enhancing, indexing and a user interface for search, browsing and retrieval of information; unlike traditional search engines, SWSE operates over RDF Web data (loosely also known as Linked Data) which implies unique challenges for the system design, architecture, algorithms, implementation and user interface. In particular, many challenges exist in adopting Semantic Web technologies for Web data: the unique challenges of the Web (in terms of scale, unreliability, inconsistency and noise) are largely overlooked by the current Semantic Web standards. In this report, we detail the current SWSE system, initially detailing the architecture and later elaborating upon the function, design, implementation and performance of each individual component. In so doing, we also give an insight into how current Semantic Web standards can be tailored, in a best-effort manner, for use on Web data. Throughout, we offer evaluation and complementary argumentation to support our design choices, and also offer discussion on future directions and open research questions. Later, we also provide candid discussion relating to the diffculties currently faced in bringing such a search engine into the mainstream, and lessons learnt from roughly five years working on the Semantic Web Search Engine project. 1Digital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway E-mail: {firstname.lastname}@deri.org 2Institut of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods – AFIB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology E-mail: harth@kit.edu Acknowledgements: This work was supported by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Lion-2) and by an IRCSET grant. Copyright c © 2010 by the authors Searching and Browsing LinkedData with SWSE: the SemanticWeb Search Engine 1;2 Aidan Hogan , Andreas Harth , J urgen Umbrich , Sheila Kinsella , Axel Polleres , Stefan Decker a aDigital Enterprise Research Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway bAIFB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany