GoRelations: An intuitive query system for DBpedia

Abstract

Although a formal query language, SPARQL, is available for accessing DBpedia, it remains challenging for users to query the knowledge unless they are familiar with the syntax of SPARQL and the underlying ontology. We have developed both an intuitive semantic graph notation or interface allowing one to pose a query by annotating a graph with natural language terms denoting entities and relations and a system that automatically translates the query into SPARQL to produce an answer. Our key contributions are the robust techniques, combining statistical association and semantic similarity, that map user terms to the most appropriate classes and properties used in the DBpedia Ontology. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.