XML to RDF Conversion: A Generic Approach

The role of metadata is gaining importance due to today's growth of multimedia content. Currently, XML is the standard for data interchange. However, as XML Schemas do not express semantics but rather the document structure, there is a lack of semantic interoperability regarding current (XML-based) metadata standards. By using semantic Web technologies, ontologies can be created to describe the semantics of a particular metadata format. A problem is that the existing XML data (compliant with a particul.ar metadata format) cannot be used by an ontology, implying the need for a conversion of XML data to RDF instances. In this paper, a generic approach is proposed for the transformation of XML data into RDF instances in an ontology-dependent way. By means of a mapping document, the link is described between an XML Schema (describing the structure of particular XML data) and an OWL ontology. Our approach is illustrated by applying it to the DIG35 specification, which is an XML-based metadata standard for the description of digital images.