Invaluable data is stored in relational databases, but a growing fraction is being created in non-traditional forms such as spreadsheets and PDF files. Integrating relational and XML data is well-understood with widely-accepted solutions. Relational data must be similarly integrated with data in other forms. A promising approach is to translate the underlying data into a common format (such as RDF) and the creation of a "semantic cover" atop the data in the form of an ontology (perhaps using OWL). Classes and subclasses of the ontology are mapped into queries on the underlying data. The ontology can then be queried using SPARQL and the SPARQL queries translated to queries on the underlying data.
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