Using Semantics in Peer Data Management Systems

Data management in Peer Data Management Systems (PDMS) is a challenging problem considering the excessive number of peers, their autonomous nature, and the heterogeneity of their schemas. To help matters, semantic knowledge in the form of ontologies has proven to be a helpful support for the techniques used for managing data in such systems. Ontologies can be used, for instance, to represent the semantic content of data sources as well as to unify the semantic relationships between their schemas. In this sense, the goal of this paper is to highlight the use of semantics in order to enhance data management issues in a PDMS. We present the current status of scientific cooperation between the database groups of Centro de Informática from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (CIn/UFPE) and PRiSM laboratory from Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (PRiSM/UVSQ). In addition, we point out further work to be done.