Bugs notwithstanding, this version has quite an advanced spreadsheet importer. I have not seen a RDF importer wizard of this sophistication. It can do all of the following things:
- It captures as RDF not only explicit data (i.e., that which sits in the spreadsheet) but also implicit data (i.e., data about the spreadsheet as a whole, like "this spreadsheet is a bunch of data collected in Wilmington, Delaware by so-and-so organization").
- It does not require users to enter in RDF URIs, as I considered this to be a major usability impediment.
- It has a lookup capability for finding subject classes.
- It automatically retrieves known properties for the subject in question and provides form elements for entering literal values of thos properties or for specifying which column in the spreadsheet contains the values in question.
- It permits users to add their own subjects and/or properties.
- It registers new subjects and properties in the Central INQLE Server, and makes these discoverable by other INQLE users running the importer wizard.
Quite a nifty bit o work if I do say so myself! And this is my excuse as to why it was almost 4 months in coming. Hopefully all this reengineering will pay off and make the process of importing data as RDF as easy and comprehensive as possible. My reasoning is that if you can import most any structure of CSV data, then you make it a whole lot easier for folks to use INQLE.
Future work: hook the thing up to the full UMBEL subject database, so we can look up subjects and properties from a richer source. Plus all the billions of other things in the INQLE roadmap.
http://code.google.com/p/inqle/wiki/INQLE_Roadmap
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