[Developers] rdf auto-discovery and dbpedia

[Scott Meyer]

Ed Summers wrote:

> So I'm left wondering, what is the URI for the concept of "Space" at
> Freebase. Is it:
> 
>   http://rdf.freebase.com/ns/guid.9202a8c04000641f8000000000036eca
> 
> or:
> 
>   http://rdf.freebase.com/ns/en.space

The first is based on the guid, and corresponds exactly to an identity
stored in our graph database.  The second is a name (key) which is currently
bound to that guid but whose binding might change over time.

Suppose, for example, that there is another space topic which "means"
the same thing.  While we try and prevent such duplication from occurring,
it can happen.  When we discover duplication we pick one topic as the winner
(usually the one with the most data) and merge all data *and keys* from the
loser to the winner.

So, if your code refers to "/en/space" it will "just work" after a merge
but if you refer to guids directly your code will have to check for
topics which have been merged and follow a link to the new topic,
if necessary.

You should consider:

   http://rdf.freebase.com/ns/en.space

tp be the official URI which will work "forever".

-Scott