Shape Fragments
This work addresses a specific problem in semantic web technologies for data extraction, but it appears incremental as it builds on existing SHACL formalizations.
The paper tackles the problem of extracting subgraphs from RDF graphs by proposing shape fragments, a novel use of shapes in SHACL to fit within the Linked Data Fragments framework, with initial experiments showing feasibility.
In constraint languages for RDF graphs, such as ShEx and SHACL, constraints on nodes and their properties in RDF graphs are known as "shapes". Schemas in these languages list the various shapes that certain targeted nodes must satisfy for the graph to conform to the schema. Using SHACL, we propose in this paper a novel use of shapes, by which a set of shapes is used to extract a subgraph from an RDF graph, the so-called shape fragment. Our proposed mechanism fits in the framework of Linked Data Fragments. In this paper, (i) we define our extraction mechanism formally, building on recently proposed SHACL formalizations; (ii) we establish correctness properties, which relate shape fragments to notions of provenance for database queries; (iii) we compare shape fragments with SPARQL queries; (iv) we discuss implementation options; and (v) we present initial experiments demonstrating that shape fragments are a feasible new idea.