SPARQture: A More Welcoming Entry to SPARQL endpoints

The semi-structured nature of Semantic Web data and its use of multiple vocabularies make it challenging to describe the structure of some RDF dataset. When trying to understand the content behind some SPARQL endpoint, users usually need to write a number of SPARQL queries to “mine” the types contained in the dataset and their relations. We argue that this is a tedious, error-prone and time consuming task to be carried out manually. SPARQture, the tool described in this paper, automates this process and renders the structure of a particular RDF data available behind some SPARQL endpoint using a number of visually rich components. Moreover, SPARQture supports user interaction to further explore the data. We describe SPARQture and discuss its fit to the IESD Challenge. The reader is encouraged to view the demo at: http://sparqture.appspot.com