Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist, 2nd Edition

Equivalence

RDF provides a global notion of identity that has validity across data sources; that global identity is the URI. This makes it possible to refer to a single entity in a distributed way. But when we want to merge information from multiple sources controlled by multiple stakeholders, it is not necessarily the case that any two stakeholders will use the same URI to refer to the same entity. Thus, in a federated information setting, it is useful to be able to stipulate that two URIs actually refer to the same entity. But there are different ways in which two entities can be the same. Some are more equal than others. RDFS-Plus provides a variety of notions of equivalence. As with other constructs in OWL, these different constructs are ...