SEMANTIC RESOURCE EXPLOITATION WITH TOPIC MAPS

Topic Maps are a new ISO standard proving a paradigm for semantic information networks over various kinds of resources. The article gives a brief introduction to the Topic Map paradigm and explains why searching and navigation in Topic Maps has great advantages over other techniques and what the differences to Semantic Networks and RDF are. Knowledge representation is an often cited application domain for Topic Maps. The article presents the essential semantics not defined by the standard: Topic Map Templates, class hierarchies, association properties, inference rules, and consistency constraints. Finally, a first outlook on the Topic Maps Query Language is provided listing the major requirements and design goals of this very new ISO standardization project.