Linked Open Data and SPARQL

After reading about OpenCalais (see previous post), I wanted to know how to get to all the data associated with the Linked Open Data project! I found some SPARQL endpoints, such as the SPARQL explorer from DBPedia (http://dbpedia.org/snorql/?query=PREFIX+dbo:+%0D%0A%0D%0ASELECT+%3Fname+%3Fbirth+%3Fdeath+%3Fperson+WHERE+{%0D%0A+++++%3Fperson+dbpedia2:birthPlace++.%0D%0A+++++%3Fperson+dbo:birthdate+%3Fbirth+.%0D%0A+++++%3Fperson+foaf:name+%3Fname+.%0D%0A+++++%3Fperson+dbo:deathdate+%3Fdeath%0D%0A+++++FILTER+(%3Fbirth+<+"1900-01-01"^^xsd:date)+.%0D%0A}). Pretty sweet but can we get to data inside AND outside of DBPedia?

I found a nice set of slides that talks about SPARQL queries and then goes into Linked Open Data sources (http://www.slideshare.net/fulvio.corno/sparql-and-the-open-linked-data-initiative). It also mentions a tool called Pubby. It maps SPARQL endpoints so that they can become Linked Open Data Endpoints (http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/pubby/).

It also had a slide saying "Tools for consuming Linked Data". It lists "Semantic Web browsers and client Libraries" as well as "Semantic Web Search Engines". We're getting closer but I don't want to use a search engine unless it is exposed as a SPARQL endpoint. I searched Google for " SPARQL endpoint linked open data" and read the BBC article (http://welcomebackstage.com/2009/06/bbc-backstage-sparql-endpoint/) about how they had several Linked Data sources for all their media and wanted them to all be searchable together. They contacted OpenLink software (makers of Virtuoso) and Talis (http://api.talis.com/stores/bbc-backstage).

The solution seems to be a classic SPARQL include of all the BBC graphs. However Virtuoso did have an interesting graphical query thin client (http://bbc.openlinksw.com/isparql/?default-graph-uri=%20&query=select%20*%20from%20%20where%20{%20?s%20?p%20?o%20}).

Still searching. More to come.