W3C

SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System RDF Schema

20th August 2008 "Last Call" Edition

Authors:
Alistair Miles, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory / University of Oxford
Sean Bechhofer, University of Manchester

Status of this Document

This document describes the schema available from the SKOS namespace. The document is still under development and content may be subject to change.


1 Introduction

The Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) is a common data model for sharing and linking knowledge organization systems via the Semantic Web.This document provides a brief description of the SKOS RDF Schema.

For detailed information about the SKOS Recommendation, please consult the SKOS Reference [SKOS-REFERENCE] or the SKOS Primer [SKOS-PRIMER].

2 SKOS RDF Schema

The SKOS data model expressed as RDF triples (in so far as possible) is given in the following resource:


3 SKOS Schema Overview

This RDF schema defines an OWL ontology [OWL-REFERENCE]. SKOS vocabularies can then be defined as instances of this ontology. Note that as the schema violates some of the constraints on OWL DL ontologies, this ontology is an OWL Full Ontology [OWL-SEMANTICS]. In particular, some documentation properties are defined as owl:ObjectProperty and then used with data values. SKOS documentation properties are defined as instances of owl:ObjectProperty and are then used to state properties of classes within the SKOS vocabulary. Both of these situations violate the requirement that the namespaces of classes, properties and individuals are kept separated in OWL DL ontologies.

The following table gives an overview of the SKOS vocabulary. Note that this table can also be found in the SKOS Reference [SKOS-REFERENCE].

Classes

skos:Collection
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#Collection
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 9. Concept Collections
Disjoint classes: skos:Concept
skos:ConceptScheme
skos:Concept
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#Concept
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 3. The skos:Concept Class
Disjoint classes: skos:Collection
skos:ConceptScheme
skos:ConceptScheme
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#ConceptScheme
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 4. Concept Schemes
Disjoint classes: skos:Collection
skos:Concept
skos:OrderedCollection
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#OrderedCollection
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 9. Concept Collections
Super-classes: skos:Collection

Properties

skos:altLabel
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#altLabel
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 5. Lexical Labels
Super-properties: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label
skos:broadMatch
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#broadMatch
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Super-properties: skos:broader
skos:mappingRelation
Inverse of: skos:narrowMatch
skos:broader
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#broader
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Super-properties: skos:broaderTransitive
Inverse of: skos:narrower
skos:broaderTransitive
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#broaderTransitive
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Super-properties: skos:semanticRelation
Inverse of: skos:narrowerTransitive
Other characteristics: Transitive
skos:changeNote
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#changeNote
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:closeMatch
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#closeMatch
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Super-properties: skos:mappingRelation
Other characteristics: Symmetric
skos:definition
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#definition
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:editorialNote
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#editorialNote
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:exactMatch
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#exactMatch
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Super-properties: skos:closeMatch
Other characteristics: Transitive
Symmetric
skos:example
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#example
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:hasTopConcept
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#hasTopConcept
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 4. Concept Schemes
Domain: skos:ConceptScheme
Range: skos:Concept
Inverse of: skos:topConceptOf
skos:hiddenLabel
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#hiddenLabel
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 5. Lexical Labels
Super-properties: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label
skos:historyNote
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#historyNote
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:inScheme
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#inScheme
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 4. Concept Schemes
Range: skos:ConceptScheme
skos:mappingRelation
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#mappingRelation
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Domain: skos:Concept
Range: skos:Concept
skos:member
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#member
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 9. Concept Collections
Domain: skos:Collection
skos:memberList
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#memberList
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 9. Concept Collections
Domain: skos:OrderedCollection
Range: http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#List
Other characteristics: Functional
skos:narrowMatch
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#narrowMatch
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Super-properties: skos:mappingRelation
skos:narrower
Inverse of: skos:broadMatch
skos:narrower
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#narrower
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Super-properties: skos:narrowerTransitive
Inverse of: skos:broader
skos:narrowerTransitive
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#narrowerTransitive
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Super-properties: skos:semanticRelation
Inverse of: skos:broaderTransitive
Other characteristics: Transitive
skos:notation
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#notation
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 6. Notations
skos:note
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#note
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
skos:prefLabel
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#prefLabel
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 5. Lexical Labels
Super-properties: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label
skos:related
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#related
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Super-properties: skos:semanticRelation
Other characteristics: Symmetric
skos:relatedMatch
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#relatedMatch
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 10. Mapping Properties
Super-properties: skos:mappingRelation
skos:related
Other characteristics: Symmetric
skos:scopeNote
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#scopeNote
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 7. Documentation Properties
Super-properties: skos:note
skos:semanticRelation
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#semanticRelation
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 8. Semantic Relations
Domain: skos:Concept
Range: skos:Concept
skos:topConceptOf
URI: http://www.w3.org/2008/05/skos#topConceptOf
Definition: SKOS Reference, Section 4. Concept Schemes
Super-properties: skos:inScheme
Inverse of: skos:hasTopConcept

References

[SKOS-REFERENCE]
SKOS Reference, Alistair Miles, Sean Bechhofer, Editors, W3C Working Draft, 25 January 2008. Latest version available at http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-reference.
[SKOS-PRIMER]
SKOS Primer, Antoine Isaac, Ed Summers, Editors, W3C Working Draft, 21 February 2008. Latest version available at http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-primer.
[RDF-RECIPES]
Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies , Diego Berrueta, Jon Phipps, Editors, W3C Working Draft, 21 February 2008. Latest version available at http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-vocab-pub.
[OWL-REFERENCE]
OWL Web Ontology Language Semantics and Abstract Syntax , Mike Dean, Guus Schreiber, Editors, W3C Working Draft, 10 February 2004. W3C Recommendation available at http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref.
[OWL-SEMANTICS]
OWL Web Ontology Language Semantics and Abstract Syntax , Peter F. Patel-Schneider, Patrick Hayes, Ian Horrocks, Editors, W3C Working Draft, 10 February 2004. W3C Recommendation available at http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-semantics.

$Revision: 1.1 $ of $Date: 2008/10/01 15:25:07 $