Abstract

We show how the benefits of the view-based search method, developed within the information retrieval community, can be combined and extended with the benefits of ontology-based annotations and search, developed within the Semantic Web community. As a proof of the concept, we have implemented an ontology- and view-based image retrieval and recommendation browser Ontogator. Ontogator is innovative in two ways. Firstly, the RDFS-based ontologies used for annotating image metadata are used in the end user interface to facilitate viewbased image retrieval. The views provide the user with a search function and means for getting useful overviews of the contents in the repository. Secondly, a semantic browsing function is provided by a recommender system. This system enriches instance level image metadata by the ontology and provides the user with links to semantically related relevant images. The notion of a “semantically relevant link ” is specified in terms of logical rules. To illustrate and discuss the ideas, a practical application of Ontogator to a photo repository of the Helsinki University Museum is presented.

Citations