Context matching for electronic marketplaces: a case study

Matching algorithms automatically discover semantic relations between two autonomously developed conceptual representations of two overlapping domains. Typical examples of such conceptualizations are electronic market catalogues (e.g., UNSPSC and ECL@SS) and web directories (e.g., GOOGLE and YAHOO!). The objective of this paper is the description of a use case in which matching algorithm has been used to re-classify into UNSPSC the catalogue of the office equipment and accessories used by a worldwide telecommunication company to classify their suppliers. On the basis of this experience we are envisaging new application of the algorithm in the area of demand aggregation, and we will conclude the paper by briefly describing a future application in this area.