If you are a space fanatic, then this article will definitely interest you. If you follow NASA, then you might have an idea that decades of NASA project data are being stored in a database that holds much value for helping to decrease project time. It is especially important for engineers to identify the trends that will help them prevent disasters and any kind of unforeseen circumstances in a project. However, one of the challenges remains is the way to access it. This is because of the silos between departments and programs also within individual groups. Hence, NASA needed to break down those silos, which was achieved by Neo4j. All this database is part. Keep reading the article to know more about the knowledge graph.
What is a Knowledge Graph?
Before we give you detailed information as to how this knowledge graph is used in NASA. Let me first tell you briefly about. The heart of a knowledge graph is a knowledge model. It is basically a model where descriptions of entities, concepts, events, and relationships are interlinked. A knowledge graph primarily puts data in the context via linking as well as semantic metadata. This will be providing an integration of data, unification, sharing as well as analytics
Now that you all have a good understanding. Head to the next section of the article to decode some of the features.
What are the Features of Knowledge Graph?
Here are some of the features of the knowledge graph:
In every database management paradigm, there are there parts of a knowledge graph model. These are:
- Graph- The graph is primarily there to analyze as there will be no other data structure
- The database is there because the data can be explored via structured queries
- You will find a knowledge base that primarily bears formal semantics that can be used to interpret data as well as infer new facts
Additional Features of Knowledge Graph
- With a knowledge graph, all the specifications will be laid out in an appropriate manner and also will be proven in practice. This will allow for the efficient management of graphs of billions of facts as well as properties
- With the Knowledge graph, there is a facility for interoperability. The use of globally unique identifiers helps in facilitating data integration as well as publishing
- Every aspect of a knowledge model is standardised through the W3C community process that will be effectively making sure that the requirements of different actors will be satisfied. These actors include logicians, enterprise data management professionals as well as system operations teams
- With the use of knowledge maps there is a fluent representation of various types of data as well as content. These include data schema, taxonomies and vocabularies, all sorts of metadata which includes reference as well as master data.
Head to the next section of the article to decode some of the examples of knowledge graphs.
Examples of Knowledge Graphs
Read this section of the article carefully to decode some of the examples of knowledge graphs. Here are some of them:
This is one of the examples of a knowledge graph, and Google made it popular in the year 2012. There are a few technical details about the coverage, organization, and size. However, one of the biggest drawbacks is that you can only use this for Google’s project, and there is limited scope to use it outside Google’s projects.
Geonames
This is another example of a knowledge graph; here, the knowledge graph is under a creative commons, and the users of the Geonames database have access to over 25 million geographical entities as well as features
Wordnet
This is one of the most known lexical databases for the English language and is also one of the most popular examples. The database provides synonyms as well as definitions, and it is often used to enhance the performance of NLP and search applications
DBPedia
This is another great example of a Knowledge graph that you can consider. This project primarily leverages the structure that is inherent in the infoboxes of Wikipedia to create an enormous dataset of 4.58 things. In this database, there is also an ontology of encyclopedic coverage, which includes people, places, films, books, organizations, species, diseases, etc.
FactForge
This is another knowledge graph which you can consider an example of. This knowledge graph has been developed by Ontotext and it is of Linked Open Data and news articles which includes people, organisations along with locations.
Use of Knowledge Graph
By now, you must be wondering what the knowledge graph is primarily used for. Well, their applications include the domains of data and information-heavy services, which include knowledge graph-powered drug discovery, responsive and contextually aware content recommendation, intelligent content and package reuse, information discovery in regulatory documents, and investment market intelligence, among others.
Now that you have a vivid understanding of the Knowledge Graph, Head to the next section of the article to explore Mars.
Mars and Knowledge Graph
NASA’s Lessons Learned Database is a huge part of the organization’s knowledge management strategy, which collects, stores, and shares information. The primary reason why the engineers use this database is to learn about past projects and this also includes any mistakes or successes and what actions are taken. According to official information from NASA, this database was made up of less than 1% of the organization’s 20 million documents. Here, you will find a total of 80,000 employees. You will get the volume, variety, and velocity of the data to tax the system.
This is where the knowledge graph comes into the picture. The Chief Knowledge Architect of NASA, David Meza, has started looking at how to take the documents and convert them into graphs. As there was a lot of metadata associated with the lessons, it was seen that David Meza correlated the topics, which are based on their self-assigned categories. This is primarily helped Meza undertsnad each lesson as well as the correlation between the topics. Hence, he could see how the knowledge graph helped in understanding the topics that are correlated to one another.
David Meza developed a simple graph model which showcases the data to the end users. Based on this data, the engineers will quickly be able to pull out the data and be able to quickly perform searches that they need. With the help of it, the relation between systems and subsystems is also seen. it also helps the project managers to use the system to look at information concerning various subsystems, which are handled by disparate team members and are used to pull together to understand the entire system.
Money Efficiency
I am pretty sure by now you all have a good understanding of the knowledge graph’s role in NASA. The Lessons Learned database has generated a significant amount of value. As per David Meza, The management has saved a good amount of $2M in research and development towards Mission Mars planning, and also the use has helped in saving a year that gave the scientists enough time to do Mars planning.
Importance of Knowledge Graph
Knowledge graphs have helped in simplifying complex topics and have given a comprehensive idea to the researchers and scientists along with the employees to develop a good understanding of the various correlations existing in the system. The graph has also helped the database management to have a definite order thereby enhancing the performance.
Commonly Asked Questions:
Is Knowledge Graph a Model?
Yes, the heart of a knowledge graph is a knowledge model
Does NASA use A Knowledge Graph?
Yes, it has used a knowledge graph in its mission for Mars planning
Conclusion
Knowledge graphs are primarily used to give a definite shape to complex topics and sub-topics. It aids the scientists as well as researchers in understanding the relationships which exist in a system and this helps them to get clarity on the project they are working on. That’s all, folks. I hope the article will help you to get all the information you need.
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