Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model
The Internet is not just used for communication, transactions, and cloud storage; it also serves as a massive knowledge store where both people and machines can create, analyze, and use data and information. The Semantic Web was designed to enable machines to interpret the meaning of data, facilitat...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Abdullah Uz Tansel Di Wu Hsien-Tseng Wang |
| author_facet | Abdullah Uz Tansel Di Wu Hsien-Tseng Wang |
| author_sort | Abdullah Uz Tansel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Internet is not just used for communication, transactions, and cloud storage; it also serves as a massive knowledge store where both people and machines can create, analyze, and use data and information. The Semantic Web was designed to enable machines to interpret the meaning of data, facilitating more informed and autonomous decision-making. The foundation of the Semantic Web is the Resource Description Framework (RDF). The standard RDF is limited to representing simple binary relationships in the form of the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo><</mo><mi>s</mi><mi>u</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>j</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>t</mi><mspace width="4pt"></mspace><mi>p</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>d</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>t</mi><mi>e</mi><mspace width="4pt"></mspace><mi>o</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>j</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>t</mi><mo>></mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> triple. In this paper, we present a new data model called BiTemporal RDF (BiTRDF), which adds valid time and transaction time to the standard RDF. Our approach treats temporal information as references instead of attributes, simplifying the semantics while enhancing the model’s expressiveness and consistency. BiTRDF treats all resources and relationships as inherently bitemporal, enabling the representation and reasoning of complex temporal relationships in RDF. Illustrative examples demonstrate the model’s support for type propagation, domain-range inference, and transitive relationships in a temporal setting. While this work lays a theoretical foundation, future research will address implementation, query language support, and compatibility with RDF streams and legacy systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-782c01d3d6ab48c6bea30f08f3149cc8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2227-7390 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Mathematics |
| spelling | doaj-art-782c01d3d6ab48c6bea30f08f3149cc82025-08-20T02:35:44ZengMDPI AGMathematics2227-73902025-06-011313210910.3390/math13132109Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF ModelAbdullah Uz Tansel0Di Wu1Hsien-Tseng Wang2Baruch College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10010, USALehman College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10468, USALehman College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10468, USAThe Internet is not just used for communication, transactions, and cloud storage; it also serves as a massive knowledge store where both people and machines can create, analyze, and use data and information. The Semantic Web was designed to enable machines to interpret the meaning of data, facilitating more informed and autonomous decision-making. The foundation of the Semantic Web is the Resource Description Framework (RDF). The standard RDF is limited to representing simple binary relationships in the form of the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo><</mo><mi>s</mi><mi>u</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>j</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>t</mi><mspace width="4pt"></mspace><mi>p</mi><mi>r</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>d</mi><mi>i</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>a</mi><mi>t</mi><mi>e</mi><mspace width="4pt"></mspace><mi>o</mi><mi>b</mi><mi>j</mi><mi>e</mi><mi>c</mi><mi>t</mi><mo>></mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> triple. In this paper, we present a new data model called BiTemporal RDF (BiTRDF), which adds valid time and transaction time to the standard RDF. Our approach treats temporal information as references instead of attributes, simplifying the semantics while enhancing the model’s expressiveness and consistency. BiTRDF treats all resources and relationships as inherently bitemporal, enabling the representation and reasoning of complex temporal relationships in RDF. Illustrative examples demonstrate the model’s support for type propagation, domain-range inference, and transitive relationships in a temporal setting. While this work lays a theoretical foundation, future research will address implementation, query language support, and compatibility with RDF streams and legacy systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/13/2109Semantic WebRDFvalid timetransaction timetemporal databasebitemporal RDF |
| spellingShingle | Abdullah Uz Tansel Di Wu Hsien-Tseng Wang Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model Mathematics Semantic Web RDF valid time transaction time temporal database bitemporal RDF |
| title | Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model |
| title_full | Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model |
| title_fullStr | Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model |
| title_short | Time Travel with the BiTemporal RDF Model |
| title_sort | time travel with the bitemporal rdf model |
| topic | Semantic Web RDF valid time transaction time temporal database bitemporal RDF |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/13/2109 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abdullahuztansel timetravelwiththebitemporalrdfmodel AT diwu timetravelwiththebitemporalrdfmodel AT hsientsengwang timetravelwiththebitemporalrdfmodel |