[Data-modeling] [Developers] Modeling question

Ed Laurent spatial.db at gmail.com
Mon Jan 7 08:11:37 UTC 2008


A couple examples that may help us formalize a strategy for describing
product <-> producer types that accept multiple brands: Chevy Astro vs. GMC
Safari mini-vans. They are essentially the same product with different
brands. The same goes with the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe. These
examples each have a few distinguishing features besides badges but they are
essentially the same products with different brands.

Shawn's product edition idea is a good one but I think it may be synonymous
with Car body style <http://www.freebase.com/view/car_body_style> in the
Automotive domain. There are probably other existing examples in Freebase as
well. Is it too general?

-Ed


On Jan 7, 2008 2:53 AM, Daniel E. Renfer <duck at kronkltd.net> wrote:

> Well then maybe we need multiple properties that expect the same general
> "producer" type.
>
> Manufacturer
> Marketer
> Distributor
> etc.
>
> Ed Laurent wrote:
> > Product brand is a pretty elegant solution. However, I'm having a little
> > trouble conceptualizing how to use the type for a product such as a cell
> > phone that may be produced by one company but sold and marketed by
> > multiple middle men under the umbrellas of different brands.
> >
> > -Ed
> >
> > On Jan 7, 2008 2:24 AM, Robert Cook <robert at metaweb.com
> > <mailto:robert at metaweb.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     Topic granularity for products is a very interesting topic.  People
> >     would like to think of the topics "Coke", "Diet Coke", "Diet Coke 1
> >     liter bottle" all as type "product" in different circumstances.
>  This
> >     could be handled by a "phylogeny" containment pattern, where the
> >     product type pointed to more specific versions of the product, just
> as
> >     the "location" type points to other contained locations.
> >
> >     I like the "edible product" idea, although I suspect there might be
> a
> >     more elegant name ;-)  The "beer" type could benefit from your
> >     suggested properties:
> >
> >     http://www.freebase.com/view/schema/food/beer
> >
> >     Also, ASINs, Netflix IDs, ISBNs and UPC codes are exactly the kind
> of
> >     "foreign keys" we would like to get into Freebase.  If anybody has
> >     access to such keys, we will help get them loaded.
> >
> >     R
> >
> >     On Jan 6, 2008, at 11:04 PM, Daniel E. Renfer wrote:
> >
> >      > I know this adds another layer to the data, but you might want to
> go
> >      > even further and break it down to the types or brands of a
> product
> >      > and the instances or editions of that brand.
> >      >
> >      > For instance:
> >      >
> >      > <The Coca-Cola Bottling Corporation> produces <Coca-Cola>
> >      > <Coca-Cola> has an edition <Coca-Cola 20 oz. Bottle>
> >      > <Coca-Cola> has an edition <Coca-Cola 2 ltr. Bottle>
> >      >
> >      > <The Coca-Cola Bottling Corporation> produces <Diet Coke>
> >      >
> >      > You could then break it down to regional variance in ingredients,
> >      > weight, nutritional value, (although this would be a property of
> the
> >      > co-type, Edible Products) etc.
> >      >
> >      > I don't know how this would fly for most people, but what about a
> >      > property to record the ASIN (The key in Amazon's database) of the
> >      > item as well.
> >      >
> >      > Ed Laurent wrote:
> >      >> I guess it's growing on me and Shawn's definition helps quite a
> bit
> >      >> except I would replace "organization" with "person, company, or
> >      >> other organization". My concern is that the product <-> producer
> >      >> concepts are so general that they should be well thought out and
> >      >> modeled as generally as possible so that they support all
> relevant
> >      >> co-types now and in the future. For example, are UPC, weight/
> >      >> volume, and cost universal properties of a product? Coca-cola
> for
> >      >> example has different combinations of ingredients depending on
> >      >> where it is sold. Similarly, my motorcycle model has a different
> >      >> gear ratio when sold in Japan compared to the U.S. Maybe these
> >      >> versions have different UPCs but their differences in
> weight/volume
> >      >> are insignificant and you might be able to sell each version for
> >      >> the same price. I don't know how many topics in Freebase
> can/will
> >      >> be considered products but it's probably a bunch. Any problems
> >      >> later on could have big implications.
> >      >> -Ed
> >      >> On Jan 7, 2008 12:19 AM, Shawn Simister <narphorium at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:narphorium at gmail.com> <mailto: narphorium at gmail.com
> >     <mailto:narphorium at gmail.com>
> >      >> >> wrote:
> >      >>    I would define a Product as a tangible object which is sold
> by an
> >      >>    organization under a specific brand name. Therefore corn or
> >     people
> >      >>    are not products but Corn Flakes and People Magazine are. I
> know
> >      >>    that there are more general definitions of products, but I
> think
> >      >>    they could be accommodated by additional types like
> Commercial
> >      >>    Service, Commodity etc.
> >      >>    Shawn
> >      >>    Ed Laurent wrote:
> >      >>>    The "Products producer" type with a "Products produced"
> property
> >      >>>    sounds pretty good to me. The "Product" type a little less
> so.
> >      >>>    Would every tangible topic (including people) need to be
> >     typed as
> >      >>>    a product? What defines a product that separates it from
> other
> >      >>>    tangible topics? I agree that this kind of type could be
> very
> >      >>>    useful and there should be reciprocation between product and
> >      >>>    producer but I'm not excited about this approach to doing
> it.
> >      >>>
> >      >>>    -Ed
> >      >>>
> >      >>>    P.S. This conversation is probably more relevant to the Data
> >      >>>    Modeling list so I'm cc'ing it.
> >      >>>
> >      >>>
> >      >>>    On Jan 6, 2008 10:05 PM, Daniel E. Renfer <
> >     duck at kronkltd.net <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net>
> >      >>>    <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net <mailto:duck at kronkltd.net>>>
> wrote:
> >      >>>
> >      >>>        It would probably make sense to have some sort of
> "products
> >      >>>        producer"
> >      >>>        co-type. The producers would have a "products produced"
> link
> >      >>>        to the
> >      >>>        "producer" field of the corresponding "product" type.
> >      >>>
> >      >>>        Not every company produces products, and there are some
> >      >>>        products that
> >      >>>        are produced by groups other than companies.
> >      >>>
> >      >>>        Other than that, it sounds like great information to
> track.
> >      >>>
> >      >>>        Kavitha Srinivas wrote:
> >      >>>        > For companies, is there any interest in linking
> companies
> >      >>> to
> >      >>>        their
> >      >>>        > major products ( e.g., Pfizer to its key pharma
> >     products) as
> >      >>>        listed in
> >      >>>        > Wikipedia?  I don't mind adding it, but there is no
> >      >>>        appropriate slot
> >      >>>        > to add it.
> >      >>>        > Key products seems to be important information for a
> >      >>> company.
> >      >>>        > Thanks!
> >      >>>        > Kavitha
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