A Layered Approach to Semantic Similarity Analysis of XML Schemas

Abstract

One of the most critical steps to integrating heterogeneous e-Business applications using different XML schemas is schema mapping, which is known to be costly and error-prone. Past research on schema mapping has not fully utilized semantic information in the XML schemas. In this paper, we propose a semantic similarity analysis approach to facilitate XML schema mapping, merging and reuse. Several key innovations are introduced to better utilize available semantic information. These innovations, including: 1) a layered semantic structure of XML schema, 2) layered specific similarity measures using an information content based approach, and 3) a scheme for integrating similarities at all layers. Experimental results using two different schemas from an real world application demonstrate that the proposed approach is valuable for addressing difficulties in XML schema mapping.